Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope"

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" When 20th Century Fox attempted to distribute the film in the U.S., fewer than 40 theaters agreed to show it. As a solution, Fox threatened that any cinema that refused to show Star Wars would not be given the rights to screen the potential blockbuster The Other Side of Midnight (which ended up grossing less than 10% of what Star Wars did).

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Prior to the release of this movie, the greatest profit 20th Century Fox had every made in one year was $37,000,000. In 1977, because of the film, their year-end profit was $79,000,000.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Initial research from 20th Century Fox using the title and a brief synopsis came back with the results that only males under 25 were interested in seeing the film. Fox then deliberately marketed the film with a view to attracting older and female cinemagoers by pushing images of humans (including Princess Leia) centerstage and referring to the film in more mythic tones, rather than science fiction.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" At one point in the scripting process, the Force was a large crystal or galactic holy grail called the 'Kyber crystal'.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" On the first day of filming in the deserts of Tunisia, the country experienced its first major rainstorm in 50 years.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Carrie Fisher found the dialogue to be very difficult, later saying, "You can type this stuff, but you can't say it". Harrison Ford had similar trouble (particularly in the scene where the Millenium Falcon leaves Tatooine), and persuaded George Lucas to let him change several lines.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) spent most of the production period in chaos, attempting to create special effects that had never been created before. They blew half their budget on four shots which George Lucas rejected. Ultimately, around $5,000,000 of the $8,000,000 budget was spent by ILM.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Alan Ladd Jr. was very anxious when he attended the premiere in Japan, only to be met by total silence at the end. What Ladd didn't realize was that Japanese moviegoers typically wait for a film's end titles to finish before speaking or leaving the theater.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" The first feature film to be screened in Dolby Stereo. Previously, films like The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Mr. Billion had made use of the sound system with disastrous results.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Mules were used as the main basis for the sound that the Tuskan Raiders make.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" When Darth Vader crushes the neck of Captain Antilles, the actual sound you hear is of walnut shells being crushed. The same sound effect is used in Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi, when Han Solo is freed from the carbonite.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Carrie Fisher's breasts were taped down with gaffer tape, as her costume did not permit any lingerie to be worn underneath. She joked later, "As we all know, there is no underwear in space."

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" The film was initially budgeted at $8 million but production problems forced the studio to contribute an additional $3 million.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Within three weeks of the film's release, 20th Century Fox's stock price doubled to a record high.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" The famous Darth Vader suit was designed by production designer Ralph McQuarrie, who was concerned about the character being able to breathe while he was traveling from his spaceship to Princess Leia's spaceship. It was not explained why Darth Vader wears the suit at all times until Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back. The look of the Darth Vader suit was based on robes worn by Bedouin Warriors.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" George Lucas had ILM watch archival footage of World War II dogfights as reference material for the final battle over the Death Star. This method would evolve into pre-visualization "animatics" in common use today. (Former fighter pilots were also employed as technical advisors, and audio recordings of radio communications made during dogfights were studied, to help with the dialogue.)

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Originally, C3PO, physically inhabited by Anthony Daniels was supposed to have his voice dubbed by another actor, since his character was supposed to be like a "used-car salesman". Ultimately, though, George Lucas was won over by the charisma of Daniels' reading of the part as a "snooty British butler" and so Daniels has done the voice for C3PO ever since.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" According to Ben Burtt, the sounds Chewbacca makes have been made from a compilation of large mammals, mostly bears (he said one particular zoo-kept Grizzly Bear was an invaluable source of Chewbacca sounds). R2-D2's sounds are various people (mostly Burtt) making baby-like sounds or sometimes actually recordings of babies electronically manipulated to sound mechanic.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Darth Vader's breathing was originally meant to be much more labored and raspy. The sound of this labored, raspy breathing would be used later on in Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi during that movie's climax.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" The planet Tatooine is never referred to by name throughout the entire showing of "A New Hope". It doesn't appear on the scroll at the beginning of the movie. When C-3PO says he doesn't know what planet they're on, Luke responds by saying "If there's a Bright Center to the Universe, you're on the planet that it's farthest from". In the original trilogy, Tatooine isn't mentioned by name until Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back. It is referred to by name and visited in all subsequent movies and prequels.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" The hilt of the lightsaber given to Luke Skywalker is a Graflex 3 Cell Camera flash tube with some rubber grips and a loop attached to the base, these flash tubes can still be bought today but cost around the same as an official replica hilt.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" During the scene where Han Solo and the others emerge from the Millennium Falcon's secret compartments, John Williams wrote a 3-note motif for the accompanied soundtrack. This 3-note motif is a cue from Psycho. As a friend and colleague of Bernard Herrmann, who wrote the music for Psycho, John Williams included this particular cue as an homage to Bernard Herrmann.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Jabba the Hutt was originally supposed to appear in the film, dropped in optically on top of stand-in actor Declan Mulholland. However, the effect was not acceptable and the scene was cut until CGI allowed it to be completed for the 1997 'Special Edition'.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" The pulsating engine sound of the Star Destroyer is a manipulated recording of a broken air conditioner.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" In Italy, R2-D2 was renamed C1-P8 while Darth Vader became Lord Fener, the reason being that "Vader" in Italian sounds too close to the common noun for the toilet bowl (the "water", clearly from the English "water closet"). The "clones" mentioned by Obi-Wan Kenobi became "quotes" (Italian: "cloni"/"quoti").

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" According to an interview with George Lucas, originally Luke was a girl, Han Solo was an Alien, the wookiees were called Jawas, and R2-D2 and C-3PO were called A-2 and C-3.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" In the scene where Luke is attacked by a Tusken Raider, the moment where the raider (Peter Diamond waves his weapon over his head with both hands in an up-and-down motion was actually created from a shot of him thrusting his weapon up once, run backwards and forward several times.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" The origin of R2-D2 can be found in the "drones" Huey, Dewey, and Louie from the film Silent Running. Upon meeting Douglas Trumbull, director and special effects chief on "Silent Running", George Lucas commented on how much he liked the designs of Trumbull's two-footed robots in the film (which were operated by bilateral amputees). Four years later, a functionally similar design appeared as R2-D2 in "Star Wars". Universal Studios, the distributor of "Silent Running" noted the similarity between the robots (and the similarity of "Star Wars" to the Buck Rogers serials of the '30s), and promptly sued 20th Century Fox for infringement. The lawsuit was eventually settled when Fox counter-sued over Battlestar Galactica: Pilot, which bore a striking resemblance to "Star Wars".

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Luke went through several changes. Lucas toyed with the idea of changing him into a woman after cutting Princess Leia from the script. He also entertained the notion of casting the principal characters as a dwarfs. In an early screenplay, Skywalker was a 60 year-old general. In the shooting script, he was called Luke Starkiller but this was changed to Luke Skywalker during production.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Production was so laden with problems that George Lucas worked himself into poor health. He had to be checked into the hospital after suffering from hypertension.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" During the scene on the Death Star right after Ben leaves to shut down the tractor beam, Chewbacca barks something to Luke to which Han says "Boy, you said it Chewie". Backstage footage reveals that what Chewie says is "The old man's gone mad".

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Darth Vader was the first character that George Lucas created for the story.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" The lightsaber sound effect is a combination of the hum of an idling 35mm movie projector and the feedback generated by passing a stripped microphone cable by a television.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" James Earl Jones supplied the voice of Darth Vader, but specifically requested that he not be credited. At the time, the reason he cited was that he felt he had not done enough work to get the billing, but he later admitted that he didn't want his name associated with the film because he was still an up-and-coming actor, and didn't want to be typecast. Jones does receive billing in the 1997 "Special Edition".

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" George Lucas originally wanted Orson Welles to do Darth Vader's voice, but decided against it, feeling that Welles' voice would be too recognizable.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Before casting Alec Guinness as Obi-Wan Kenobi, George Lucas considered casting Japanese actor Toshiro Mifune. He also considered making casting a Japanese Princess Leia.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" 20th Century Fox was so sure Star Wars was going to be a disaster that they came within a matter of days of selling off their stake in the film as a tax shelter. Positive feedback from an advanced screening made them change their minds, and the profits from the film ended up saving the studio from bankruptcy.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" C-3PO was originally scripted as a "used car salesman" type, and designed after the robot from Metropolis.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" A great deal of the film was shot by vintage 1950s VistaVision cameras, because they were of higher quality than any others available. After the film was released, the prices of these cameras skyrocketed.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" While the shot where the escape pod leaves Leia's ship was the first ever completed by ILM, the first shot actually approved by George Lucas for the movie was a shot of the laser cannons in the Death Star trench.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" The Tatooine scenes were filmed in Tunisia. There is a town in Tunisia called "Tataouine". Some of the interiors and the courtyard of Luke's house were filmed in a hotel in Matmata, Tunisia

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" After the sets were constructed, George Lucas went through them and had every single one of them "dirtied up". The R2-D2s were all rolled in the dirt, nicked with a saw, and kicked around a bit.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" The sounds of the lasers were made by striking a metal wrench up the steel re-enforcement cables of a high-voltage electricity pylon - those long lines of power pylons that criss-cross most countries. The Millenium Falcon "shutdown" engine noise was sourced from an external air-conditioning unit on its last legs.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Two different basic designs were created for the Millennium Falcon. The rejected one became the Rebel Blockade Runner seen at the start of the film.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" According to the exhibit at the Smithsonian, the sound of a TIE fighter is created by combining the squeal of a young elephant with the sound of a car driving by on a rain-slicked highway.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" When the storm troopers enter the room where C-3PO and R2-D2 are hiding, one of the actors accidentally bumps his head on the doorway due to his limited visibility. When the Special Edition came out in 1997, a sound effect had been added to the scene to accompany the head bump.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" The Chewbacca suit retained a bad smell for the duration of filming after the trash-compactor scene.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Cardboard cutouts were used for some of the background starfighters in the Rebel hangar bay and most of the crowd watching the heroes receive their medallions in the final scene.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Mark Hamill held his breath for so long during the trash compactor scene that he broke a blood vessel in his face. Subsequent shots are from one side only.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Portions of the sound effects for the Millennium Falcon's engines were recorded at an air show at the Experimental Aircraft Association's annual convention in Oshkosh, WI. In a gesture of thanks, Lucasfilm donated a model of the Falcon to the EAA Air Museum.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" The model used for the rebel blockade runner (the first ship seen in the first scene of the film) has a tiny Star Wars movie poster and a tiny Playboy centerfold in its cockpit. These aren't visible on screen, though.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" The piece of equipment used to fire the Death Star's weapon is actually a Grass Valley Group 1600-7K television production switcher.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" The targeting grid used for the Millennium Falcon's canon is based on a paperweight George Lucas saw on Arthur C. Clarke's desk.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" The language spoken by the Jawas was created by recording speakers of the African Zulu language and electronically speeding it up. Greedo's language is the Peruvian Indian language Quechua, played backwards. (George Lucas would later feature Peruvian Indians again in Raiders of the Lost Ark).

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" George Lucas shot the opening sequence of the Storm Troopers bursting through the blockade runner door, and the ensuing battle against rebel troops, in two takes. While the action on set was over very quickly, Lucas used six cameras to capture it, thereby extending the length of the scene on screen. Since some cameras were in very tight and others wide, it is difficult to tell the various actions that were duplicated.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Denis Lawson, who played Wedge Antilles (his name is misspelt in the credits as "Dennis Lawson"), is the uncle of Ewan McGregor, who plays Obi-Wan Kenobi in the prequels.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" A small pair of metal dice can be seen hanging in the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon as Chewbacca makes preparations to depart from Mos Eisley. They don't appear in subsequent scenes, because they were stolen from the set and not replaced.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" George Lucas waived the normal writer/director fee and asked for a mere $175,000 plus 40% of the merchandising rights. Star Wars related merchandise has since generated many millions of dollars in sales, allowing Lucas to make movies completely independent of the studio system he decried. Merchandising rights are now a major part of any film contract.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Several scenes were filmed of Luke with his friends on Tatooine in an effort to introduce the main character earlier in the film. First Luke and watches Princess Leia's ship battle with the Imperial cruiser through his Macrobinoculars and later he meets his best friend Biggs Darklighter in Anchorhead, who has left the Imperial Academy and plans to join the Rebel Alliance, Also present in the Anchorhead scenes were Anthony Forrest as Fixer and Koo Stark as Fixer's girlfriend Cammie. All these scenes were later cut, leaving Luke's mention of Biggs to his aunt and uncle as the sole reference to his character early on. The scenes have never officially appeared in any release of the movie, but stills were included in "The Story of Star Wars" (a book-and-record set), and the scenes also appeared in the comic book and novel adaptations. This has lead several people to believe they actually saw the scenes on the silver screen. All of the scenes were included on the CD-Rom Star Wars: Behind the Magic in 1998. A reunion scene between Luke and Biggs at the Rebel base was included in the Special Edition re-release of the movie. However, a line by Red Leader about having once met Luke's father was cut from this exchange.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" The rescue of the Princess - and Obi-Wan Kenobi's duel with Darth Vader - were originally intended to take place on Alderaan.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" In early drafts of the script, R2-D2 could speak standard English, and had a foul vocabulary. Although all of R2-D2's English speech was removed, many of C-3PO's reactions to it were left in.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" In some scenes that were filmed but never used, the filmmakers had to use multiple models of R2-D2, since he had a hard time keeping up with the other characters. When one could no longer keep up, a second one hidden behind a corner or wall would "sneak" back into the main group. As this charade wasn't very convincing, none of these scenes made the final cut.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" In the original draft, Luke made a failed Death Star Trench bombing attempt before making his shot that ultimately destroyed the station. While all footage of the first trench run was eliminated from the final movie, one line that referenced the first run remained - "They're coming much faster THIS TIME."

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" The name Wookiee came about as a result of an accident. When San Francisco DJ Terry McGovern was doing voice-over work on THX 1138for George Lucas, he made a blunder and exclaimed, "I think I ran over a wookiee back there." George Lucas, confused, asked what he meant by the term. Terry McGovern admitted that he didn't know and added that he simply made it up. George Lucas never forgot the word and used it years later in Star Wars.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Ben Burtt created the sound of Darth Vader's breathing by placing a small microphone in the second stage (mouthpiece) of a scuba regulator, and then recording the sound made by his breathing through the regulator.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" In the Blockade Runner scenes at the beginning of the film, with the shootout in the white hallways, only a single white hallway was built. It was filmed from multiple angles to give the impression that the "ship" was bigger than it really was, and so that the best parts of the battle footage could be used more than once.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" In earlier versions of the script, the line "There will be no escape for the Princess this time" was "There will be no escape for the Captain this time." (A reference to Captain Antilles, who Vader later strangles to death.)

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" In the early mono mix of the film, a few lines are slightly different, or completely different vocal takes. For instance, a different actress dubbed Aunt Beru's lines in the earlier mono mix. Likewise, Luke's line "Blast it Biggs, where are you" in the Death Star battle was "Blast it Wedge, where are you" in the mono version. Although the mono mix is less common, the version of the latter line in it may seem to make more sense, since Wedge was the one who did eventually save Luke in that point of the battle. However, in the chaos of such a large-scale dogfight, either version would be acceptable, since Luke might not have known that Biggs was otherwise occupied and Wedge was free to come to his aid.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" On opening weekend in 1977, the movie earned $1.554 million on fewer than 40 screens. In 1997, it made over $36 million on over 2,000 screens.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" When the blasters are cocked they have a clicking/clunking sound. This is a recording of a parking meter handle being turned.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" While filming, a fierce sandstorm destroyed several of the Tatooine sets in the desert outside Tozeur, Tunisia, and filming resumed two days later. The same thing would happen to George Lucas 22 years later while filming Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" While George Lucas was filming on location in Tunisia, the Libyan government became worried about a massive military vehicle parked near the Libyan border. Consequently, the Tunisian government, receiving threats of military mobilization, politely asked Lucas to move his Jawa sandcrawler farther away from the border.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Dan O'Bannon and John C. Wash animated the Death Star schematics seen on the computer screen as R2D2 searches the Death Star's computer memory. They were influenced by similar sequences they produced for the film Dark Star.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" The filming of the special effects sequences at ILM's studio was interrupted at one point by a visit by representatives from the local camera operators union who were insisting that ILM hire union camera operators. Someone then programmed the newly-developed Dykstraflex motion-controlled camera to perform a complex series of moves that ended with the camera being pointed at the faces of the union reps. At this point the union reps were told, "Send us someone who can operate *that*." The union reps left and were not heard from again.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" In the Italian version of the trilogy, the Death Star is called La Morte Nera (Black Death), and Darth Vader is called Lord Fener.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" The terms "X-wing" and "Y-wing" and "TIE fighter" were used by ILM effects guys to distinguish the fighters. These terms are not used in this film, though they were incorporated into the sequels. They also became popular with the public after the toys and the Making of special aired on tv. In addition, ILM's special effects staff nicknamed the Millennium Falcon "The Porkburger" but this never caught on.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" When Ben Kenobi is turning off the tractor beam, the set Alec Guinness was on was only six feet above the ground.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" The humorous moment when Chewbacca frightens a skittish mouse droid was thought up on set and not scripted.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" The reason the screen "whites up" as Ben and Luke carry C-3P0 to repair him after the Sand People attack is that Anthony Daniels was only wearing black tights below the waist.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Perry King screen-tested for the role of Han Solo. Though he lost the part to Harrison Ford for the film, he got to play Solo in the National Public Radio adaptations of the original "Star Wars" trilogy.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz, old film-school friends of George Lucas, did uncredited rewrites on the screenplay. 20th Century Fox refused to pay them a fee, insisting that Lucas pay them out of his own salary. He eventually gave them some of his own profit points as a reward. The rebel General who talks to Princess Leia on her arrival at Yavin IV is named 'Willard' after Huyck.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" The line "May the Force be with you." is ranked #8 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" The movie's line "May the force be with you." was voted as the #22 of "The 100 Greatest Movie Lines" by Premiere in 2007.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Upon receiving the script prior to her audition, Carrie Fisher read it aloud with her friend, actor Miguel Ferrer. Struck by how unique the story was, Fisher decided to lobby hard for the role of Princess Leia - a decision which paid off.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" The original teaser trailer was narrated by Malachi Throne. In the documentary Empire of Dreams: The Story of the 'Star Wars' Trilogy, he is given a "special thanks" credit.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" The music by John Williams is ranked #1 on AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Upon its original release, the opening crawl did not include "Episode IV: A New Hope." According to Lucasfilm, this was added upon its re-release in 1981. The later print was the first one to be released on mass market video (an earlier Betamax release did not have the subtitle), and all video, laserdisc or DVD releases have featured the subtitles. The theatrical cut DVDs, released in September 2006, were the first time that the original opening crawl, without subtitle, has been released on home video.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" All of the dialogue by Shelagh Fraser (Aunt Beru) was dubbed.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Set designer Roger Christian claims he added the pair of dice hanging in the Millennium Falcon cockpit (briefly seen when Chewbacca bumps his head on them as he first enters) because there were dice hanging in Harrison Ford's car in American Graffiti. However, Ford's character had a skull hanging from his rear-view mirror. Ron Howard had the fluffy dice.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" In its May 30, 1977 issue, Time magazine voted Star Wars "The Year's Best Movie." The franchise would go on to feature on the magazine's cover six times.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" James Caan, Al Pacino, Jack Nicholson, Robert De Niro and Burt Reynolds turned down the role of Han Solo.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Peter Mayhew and David Prowse were both given a choice as to which giant character they wanted to play, Chewbacca or Darth Vader. Mayhew wanted to play a good guy and Prowse wanted to play a bad guy, so they ended up playing the matching characters.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Terri Lynn and Cindy Williams auditioned for the role of Princess Leia.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" When writing the script, George Lucas had terrible trouble remembering how to spell all the odd names he had invented for his universe. This explains why there is such inconsistency over the way Wookiee is spelled.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" 20th Century Fox bought the screenplay largely because George Lucas had hired conceptual artist Ralph McQuarrie to create paintings of a number of scenes to help sell it in.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" The day before he began filming as C-3PO, Anthony Daniels tried on his costume for the first time. Within two steps, the left leg shattered down into the plastic of the left foot, beginning to stab the actor every time he took a step.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" The actors found George Lucas to be very uncommunicative towards them, with his only directions generally being either "faster" or "more intense". At one point, when he temporarily lost his voice, the crew provided him with a board with just those three words written on it.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" R2-D2's vocal patterns largely contain sound designer Ben Burtt's own voice. In trying to create the beeping, whistling noises of the droid, Burtt found that he was vocalizing a lot of what he was trying to achieve, so he recorded his voice - mainly making baby noises - and then fed it through a synthesizer.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" During production, Anthony Daniels and all other actors playing "C-3PO"-type droids had to lean against a board to rest, as his costume was not flexible enough to allow them to sit. In scenes where C-3PO is required to sit, Daniels' costume had to be partially disassembled to allow him to sit down. This was hidden by using camera angles, and by having C-3PO sit behind things. This inflexible costume problem was also experienced by actor Jack Haley who played the Tin Woodsman in The Wizard of Oz.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" In the early rough-cut of the Cantina sequence, Wuher, the barkeeper is speaking in a very pronounced Cockney accent, one that was overdubbed by an American actor before the film's release. The same also happens with the character of Dr. Evazan ("I have the death sentence in 12 systems!") for much the same reason.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" In an earlier version of the script for "A New Hope", the Millennium Falcon lands on not the Death Star but at a Cloud City that floats above the gaseous surface of the planet Alderaan. The rescue of Princess Leia and Obi-Wan Kenobi's duel with Darth Vader take place at this base, not on the Death Star. A cut in the budget for the movie forced George Lucas to bring in the Death Star early, and in the finished film the scenes that would have take place in the Cloud City take place there, instead. The Cloud City, of course, was later used in Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back . Since Alderaan was destroyed in Star Wars, however, it obviously couldn't be the location of the Cloud City. So a new planet was created to house the Cloud City: Bespin.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" David Prowse's Darth Vader mask had to be padded with foam because it was much too large to fit over his face properly.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" George Lucas's original choice for cinematographer was Geoffrey Unsworth, but Unsworth was committed to A Bridge Too Far. Gilbert Taylor was hired instead, but hated working on the project. Producer Gary Kurtz became concerned that Taylor was slowing production down and attempted to replace him with Harry Waxman, but the camera crew made it clear they would not work under Waxman, and Lucas told Kurtz that replacing Taylor would probably delay the film even further.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" James Earl Jones and David Prowse have never met.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" The enhanced effects used for the Death Star explosions in the 1997 re-releases of this movie and Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi feature the "Praxis Wave," so named for its first use by Industrial Light and Magic in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country for the explosion of the Klingon moon, Praxis.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" David Prowse, the actor in the Darth Vader suit, was still disgruntled more than 20 years after the film's release about the fact that his voice was replaced by James Earl Jones. In an interview with the Canadian press, Prowse claimed that he was a victim of "reverse racism". As there were no black members in the cast, the studio was worried that they would lose a significant size audience.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" The cast and crew's nickname for David Prowse was Darth Farmer, because of his heavy Bristol accent.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" The original editor for the film was John Jympson. Richard Chew was Lucas' first choice of the editor but budgetary reasons will not allow him to do so. After the first assembly, which was absolutely disastrous, Lucas fired Jympson, asked his then wife Marcia (while editing) New York, New York who in turn brought in Chew and Paul Hirsch to finish.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Star Wars: "A New Hope" is the second film to gross more than $100 million at the US box office. The first was Jaws.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Star Wars: "A New Hope" is the only Star Wars series film in which neither Yoda nor Palpatine make an appearance. Yoda is not mentioned, as the character had not yet been created. Palpatine (whose name is never uttered in the classic trilogy) is mentioned, but referred to only as "the Emperor".

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Star Wars: "A New Hope" is the only Star Wars film where Darth Vader's signature theme "The Imperial March" is not played in some form or another - as it had not been written at the time.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" The briefing of the pilots and the final dogfights at the Death Star were inspired by many WWII films including Flying Tigers, Flying Leathernecks and Battle of Britain amongst others.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Normally 20th Century-Fox released about 20 films per year, but the long-running success of Star Wars resulted in the studio issuing only seven new films in the entire year of 1978.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" According to Harrison Ford, during the making of the film, he and Mark Hamill would usually fool around and not commit to their work whenever Alec Guinness was not on set. When Guinness was on set, they behaved much more professionally.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Reportedly because he hated working on Star Wars so much, Alec Guinness claims that Obi-Wan's death was his idea as a means to limit his involvement in the film. Guinness also claimed to throw away all Star Wars related fan mail without even opening it.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" In some Spanish subtitled releases, R2-D2 name appears subtitled as "Arturito" or "little Arthur" in Spanish, since the pronunciation is very closed resembled, this is also the case with C3-PO whose name is subtitled as "Citripio", but that does not resembles anything in Spanish.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" The character name Obi-Wan Kenobi appears to allude to the following definitions. OBI - a form of belief involving sorcery, practiced in parts of the West Indies, South America, the southern U.S., and Africa. And a charm used in this belief system. WAN - Archaically meaning dark or gloomy; also pale in color or hue, meaning decline in ability (referring to dotage of the aging Jedi). KEN - knowledge, understanding, or cognizance; mental perception. range of sight or vision.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" George Lucas asked costume designer John Mollo to create simple, nondescript costumes without any buttons. The only exception to this last rule were some of the green rebel uniforms worn by extras during the Throne room sequence, as Mollo had to find a lot of spare uniforms at the last minute.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" The cantina creature later to be known as 'Dice Ibegon' was really nothing more than a hand puppet known as the 'Drooling arm'. This was because it was fashioned to have a red, oozy liquid drip from it's mouth. When they tried this on film however, the liquid spurted all over the place and the shot was judged to be too disgusting for a PG movie.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Although the Anchorhead scenes featuring Anthony Forrest as Fixer and Koo Stark as Cammie were deleted, Forrest still appears in the finished film. He played the Sandtrooper who stops Luke and Obi-Wan in Mos Eisley and is then deluded by Obi-Wan's use of the Force.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Han Solo and Obi-Wan Kenobi are ranked #14 and #37 respectively on the "Heroes" section of AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains, making Star Wars the only film to have more than one character on the list.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Unlike the other films in the series, Star Wars: "A New Hope" features Grand Moff Tarkin (Peter Cushing) as the major Imperial villain, instead of Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid). Both of their names are references to the Roman Republic/Empire. The Tarquins were kings of Rome in the days before the Roman Republic. Palatine Hill was a major location in the city of Rome.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Star Wars: "A New Hope" is the first science fiction film to be nominated for a Best Picture Academy Award.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" While speaking at London's National Film Theatre in 2009, Ben Burtt disclosed that the alien gibberish sprouted by the Mos Eisley spy Garindan/Long Snoot in Star Wars was actually the processed voice of John Wayne.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Star Wars: "A New Hope" remains one of the 50 highest grossing movies of all time (as of 2010 at #30) without adjusting dollars for inflation and is the oldest film to have such distinction.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" The actors playing the stormtroopers in the scene where they investigate the escape pod were paid 8500 Tunisian Dinar, which back then was the equivalent of only US$6.50 in 1976 dollars, which adjusted for inflation would be US$24.76 in 2010 dollars.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" In 2010, George Lucas sent Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, the executive producers of TV's Lost, a letter congratulating them on the show's end and letting them in on some (possibly facetious) secrets about his development of the Star Wars movie series: "Don't tell anyone ... but when 'Star Wars' first came out, I didn't know where it was going either. The trick is to pretend you've planned the whole thing out in advance. Throw in some father issues and references to other stories - let's call them homages - and you've got a series."

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Peter Cushing completed his role in a matter of days (May 8-12). Shooting lasted from March-June 1976, released one year later due to the extensive special effects.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" George Lucas popularized the concept of giving sets/props/etc. a "dirtied up" appearance, to create the illusion that they were old and worn. However, he was not the first person to use this strategy. Over a decade prior, Gerry Anderson had extensively used this process in his Supermarionation series, most notably Thunderbirds.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Alec Guinness and Peter Cushing have both appeared in productions of Hamlet. One of Guinness's first roles, at the age of 19, was playing Osric in John Gielgud's production in 1933, which is considered to be one of the best theatrical productions of the twentieth century. Cushing played the same part in Laurence Olivier's film version of Hamlet, which marked his first collaboration with future Star Wars cast member Christopher Lee.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" The bantha seen being mounted by tusken raiders after they spot Luke Skywalker's speeder, was actually an Asian elephant dressed in a costume of fur and fake horns. Filming the scene proved difficult, because the elephant was not accustomed to the extreme heat of Death Valley, and kept removing the costume.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" When first released in 1977, this movie was simply titled "Star Wars", as it was intended to be a stand-alone movie. Sequels were not considered until after it became wildly successful. The name of this movie was changed to "Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope" many years later to fit in better with the names of the other films.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" The skeleton that Threepio passes belongs to a Tatooine creature called a Greater Krayt Dragon. This artificial skeleton was left in the Tunisian desert after filming and still lies there. During filming of Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones, the site was visited by the crew and the skeleton was still there.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" According to Star Wars canon, Tatooine's twin suns heat the planet so much that only the polar regions are habitable.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" The final scene in which Luke and Han received their awards required a much larger soundstage than was available at Elstree Studios. The scene was shot at Pinewood Studios instead.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Michael Elphick was offered a major featured role but could not accept.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" In the DVD commentary, Carrie Fisher shares that she and a friend of hers read the script out loud....and both, in fact, wanted to play Han Solo! That, of course, was impossible since Han is a male character. But that didn't stop Carrie! As she puts it, the one character she COULD play was Princess Leia....and the rest, of course, is history!

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Contrary to popular belief, the reason George Lucas created the title card "Episode IV" in the first film was as a homage to 1940's Saturday afternoon "cliffhanger" serials, like the Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon. He also used the "text crawl" the same way each of those series opened up new chapters. He did not at the time have Episodes I, II, and III already planned. In fact, at one point, 20th Century Fox wanted the "Episode IV" title removed so as not to confuse moviegoers. There are some prints of the film that do not have that title card.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" In George Lucas' paperback novelization of the film, the book begins with a short prologue recited by Princess Leia. In the prologue, she tells the story of the fall of the "Old Republic", the rise of the Empire, and the rise of the Rebel Alliance. This would be part of the basis for Episodes 1-3 of the "New Trilogy".

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" George Lucas' decision to accept a lower salary on the film in exchange for full merchandising rights was considered a fool's gamble on his part. Toys based on movies had never been major money-earners (though some movie-toy combinations had done moderate retail returns) because of the long gap between when a movie would go through its theatrical run and when any products based on it would be available. But Star Wars was such a phenomenon that it reached the holiday 1977 sales period in full swing, and changed the way movies were merchandised forever.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher are of Swedish and Jewish ancestry, respectively. In the prequels, their parents would be played by Hayden Christensen and Natalie Portman, who also have Swedish and Jewish ancestry.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Two of the creature characters have names which resemble the Russian words for the animals that they resemble. Chewbacca sounds like sobaka (dog) and Jabba sounds like zhaba (toad).

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Princess Leia and Obi-Wan Kenobi never actually meet. The closest they get to meeting is when she sees him from a distance during the lightsaber duel.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Obi-Wan never says "may the Force be with you"; he always says a close variation of the line. General Dodonna, however, does speak the line, while addressing the assembled rebels.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" George Lucas was so sure the film would flop that instead of attending the premiere, he went on holiday to Hawaii with his good friend Steven Spielberg, where they came up with the idea for Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Adjusting for inflation, this would be the second highest-grossing movie of all time.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" The only movie, out of all six, when one of the characters refers to the droids as "robots" on screen.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" While Alec Guinness made no secret that he disliked the dialogue in George Lucas's script, he claimed that he accepted the role for two reasons: 1). He was an admirer of Lucas' previous film American Graffiti and 2). The narrative compelled him to read the whole script through to the end, in spite of not liking the dialogue and not being a fan of science fiction.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Robert Englund and Sylvester Stallone auditioned for the role of Han Solo.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" When Luke and his aunt and uncle are eating they are using a white set of glasses and pitcher. These are a Tupperware style.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" John Travolta auditioned for the role of Han Solo.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Linda Blair, Pamela Sue Martin and Jill Clayburgh were considered for the role of Princess Leia.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" The name Luke derives from the Greek word for light, which fits into the film's allegorical themes of light and darkness. The Biblical Apostle Luke was an early convert to Christianity, much like Luke Skywalker converting to the ways of a Jedi. In addition, the name Luke is also a derivative of the name Lucas.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Kenny Baker has said that often when the cast and crew broke for lunch, they would forget he was in the R2-D2 outfit leave him behind.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Prior to the film's release, George Lucas showed an early cut of the film to a group of his film director friends. Most, including Lucas himself, felt the film would be a flop. The only dissenter was Steven Spielberg who predicted the film would make millions of dollars

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Pop Musician Meco recorded a Disco version of the theme song, which also mixed in other pieces of the musical score, most notably the Cantina Band song. The single reached Number One for two weeks on the Billboard Pop Chart in October, 1977.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Among the first promotional licenses granted was to Marvel Comics, who published a Star Wars comic book series which ran for 107 issues from 1977-86. The first six issues were an adaption of the film, which included some deleted scenes from the film. The adaptation was also published in a tabloid sized Collector's Edition format.

GOOFS:

Audio/visual unsynchronised

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Just before Alderaan is destroyed, Governor Tarkin asks the Princess "You would prefer another target, a military target, then name the system!" In the reaction shot of the Princess you can see Tarkin's mouth moving but there is no sound.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" When Darth Vader says to Tarkin, "I told you she would never consciously betray the Rebellion," he then continues to gesture as if still talking.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" When Luke, Ben, and the droids first enter the cantina and Wuher the bartender yells, "Hey! We don't serve their kind here!" his voice does not match his lips. (See trivia.)

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" During the heroes' procession into the award ceremony, the assembled rebel soldiers turn (either left-face or right-face, depending on which side of the aisle they were standing), accompanied by the appropriate sound of their feet stomping to complete the movement. However, only a few actors (visible on the left side of the aisle) actually stomp their feet after making their turn.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" It is frequently claimed that upon returning to the Rebel base after destroying the Death Star, Luke exclaims, "Carrie!" when he hears Leia (Carrie Fisher) call "Luke!" Sound designer Ben Burtt has confirmed that, after extensive listening, it appears to be "Hey" or "Yay"; 'Mark Hamill' reports that he said, "Hey! There she is!" but mumbled the last word. Yet, trained lip readers report only two syllables being spoken and they look like Carrie.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" When the rebel ship at the beginning of the movie falls into the tracker beam of the star destroyer, inside the rebel ship the rebels look up as the ship makes clanking sounds (presumably during docking). The next scene shows the two ships still far apart, drawing nearer, but obviously not close to touching.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Back in the hangar bay on Yavin after the destruction of the Death Star, as Luke, Han and Leia are jubilant, C-3PO rushes to the side of Luke's X-wing. 'Anthony Daniels' in costume saying "Oh my! Artoo!" in the audio track. Shortly thereafter, C-3PO's proper "Oh my! Artoo!" (replete with robotic audio effect) is heard.

Character error

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" When C-3PO and R2-D2 are in the control room of the Death Star, the storm troopers barge in, and one hits his head on the door. This goof was highlighted in the remastered version with a comedy "donk" sound effect.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" As Luke cleans R2-D2, watch C-3PO in the background. When Luke jumps back, surprised by Princess Leia's message, C-3PO slips off the steps (but recovers in time not to ruin the shot).

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" When Luke rescues Leia, he says that he's "here with Ben Kenobi", to which Leia replies "Ben Kenobi?! Where is he?" One would think Leia would have been confused or hesitant at the name "Ben Kenobi", since she only knew him as Obi-Wan Kenobi. And why didn't Luke just say "Obi-Wan Kenobi" since he knew that was the name Leia was familiar with?

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" When the Millenium Falcon is pursuing an enemy fighter near Alderaan's shards, Han Solo repeats several times that the fighter is not yet within range to fire, yet it is quite close; in several battle scenes later in the movie, enemy fighters are destroyed at similar or even longer ranges.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" In the music in the ending credits, a trumpet overblows and hits a wrong note

Continuity

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Footage of R2-D2 turning his head skeptically during the Jawa auction is used twice.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" In the original theatrical release, there is the scene where Grand Moff Tarkin gives the order to destroy Princess Leia's home planet, Alderaan. But when the laser bolt from the Death Star is fired at Alderaan, two separate explosions take place, not one, and some rubble that is fired from the planet during the first explosion disappears when the second explosion is taking place.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" In the scene where C-3PO and R2-D2 take over the control room, three guns are leaning against the little window that overlooks the hanger. But in a few different shots, there are four guns.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" In the scene with the oil bath in Luke's garage, C3PO is holding a rag. We cut away to R2D2, then cut back to C3PO, and the rag is gone. Then cut to R2D2 again and cut back to C3PO, then the rag is back.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" After C-3PO and R2-D2 escape from the Blockade Runner, the Blockade Runner has vanished from the Star Destroyer's underside tractor beam hatch. This is most evident in the last frame of the scene that shows the Star Destroyer flying by.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Rebel pilots have a radar in their X-Wings they use to target enemy fighters. However, in at least one scene, this radar depicts the "bent wing" Darth Vader model TIE fighter as the target, when in actuality the pilot is shooting at a standard model TIE fighter.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" When Vader is strangling Captain Raymus Antilles, a stormtrooper in the background holds his blaster at waist level in one shot and chest level in another.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" When C-3PO is separated from R2-D2 on Tatooine and walking among the sand dunes, clear skies and cloudy skies keep trading places between shots.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" The hologram of Leia that Luke discovers changes for one repetition as Luke and C3PO discuss it.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" When 3PO explains how the tractor beam is powered (in later versions like the Special Edition only), his voice is of a higher pitch than in the rest of the film, indicating an obvious dub.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" In the first shot of the Millennium Falcon, the ship is missing its radar dish.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" When Luke is practicing with the lightsaber in the Millennium Falcon, his lightsaber is green. He turns it off to talk to Ben and when he turns it back on, it is back to its "proper" light blue. This mistake is only in the 2004 DVD release.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" C-3PO sustains a dent on his head during the Sandpeople attack, but the dent appears, disappears, and swaps sides frequently during the movie.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Luke's sleeve and the position of his head and arms when he is lying unconscious after the Sandpeople attack.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" The shrubs on the edge of the hole in Luke's desert home.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" When Ben gives Luke the lightsaber, and Luke activates it, the cape hanging on the wall behind him disappears while the saber is active, and re-appears when it is shut off.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Red Leader's helmet mike switches sides several times just before he crashes.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" The windows of the TIE fighters are shaped differently when viewed from the inside and the outside.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" The windows at the cockpit of the Millenium Falcon do not match when viewed from outside and when viewed from inside.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" As Luke prepares to board his fighter prior to the climactic space battle, he brushes his hand along the underside of the wing. The markings on the wing clearly indicate it is "Red One," shown by the one red stripe. However, during the battle it is repeatedly established that Luke is in fact "Red Five," and exterior shots of the spacecraft model have five red stripes. This is corrected in the special edition by adding the scene of Luke talking to Biggs. They start talking under red one and continue to walk to Luke's fighter. This scene was cut from the original.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" When the Falcon is escaping the Death Star, they are pursued by four fighter craft. After three of the fighters are destroyed, what should be the lone remaining craft is next seen accompanied by another. The second craft apparently reassembles itself just long enough for this one fly-by, as it is not seen again (this was corrected in the Special Edition, as only one TIE fighter is visible in the shot).

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" The pitcher in Luke's hand while he is talking to Uncle Owen changes hands a few times.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" The blue panels on R2-D2 appear black when he is in the X-Wing with Luke in space. This is a blue screen shot which effectively makes R2's panels transparent. In the Special Edition, they left them as black but the newly added CGI X-Wing shots with R2-D2 are blue.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" In the trash compactor, the metal bar that Leia uses to try and brace the walls is buried in debris. When she needs it moments later she is already resting her hands on it and it is easily obtainable.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" When R2D2 and C-3PO are in the escape pod, the rotation of the pod and the view rearward of the star cruiser don't agree.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" When leaving the Yavin base, many of the rebel pilots are wearing brand new helmets. In the scenes that follow the helmets are clearly old and battered.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" On the way to the turbo lift to the detention area, the position of the rifle Han Solo (dressed as a stormtrooper) jumps from shot to shot.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" In the escape from Mos Eisley, Obi-Wan is visible in the background, out of position, with a green light shining on his white shirt, making it appear green.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" When Luke returns to the Lars homestead to find it destroyed, in all shots from behind Luke (or from his point of view) the wind is blowing from his left; all shots facing Luke show it blowing from his right.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" For the 1997 Special Edition, Industrial Light and Magic made CG models of the X-Wings (based on the "Red 2" filming model, Wedge's ship) and the Millennium Falcon (based on the filming model built for Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back). Thus in the new, CG Special Edition shots, Luke's X-Wing incorrectly has two red stripes on each wing (instead of five), and the Falcon has the two extra landing gear bays on its underside it didn't *originally* have until Empire (it also has a slightly different paint scheme).

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" In the escape from Tatooine, Chewbacca'a sash disappears and reappears between shots.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" In the Death Star conference, the back of Tarkin's chair is higher in the wide shots than it is in the close-ups.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" When Luke and his uncle are talking at supper he takes the cup of blue milk away from his face and in the next shot when he asks, "He knew my father?" the cup is at his mouth again and he is again taking it away.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" When Han, Luke, and Leia meet the group of stormtroopers just after seeing the Millenium Falcon, Leia's hair is falling apart, but when they meet up again at the ship, it has been fixed.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Just after R5D4 "blows a fuse" when the droids are purchased from the Jawas and C3PO recommends R2D2, we see R5D4 behind R2 (as R2D2 stands against the sandcrawler). In the next shot, R5D4 is once again beside C3PO being taken back by the Jawas.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Just after Leia has been rescued from her cell on the Death Star and says sarcastically, "Great Rescue!" as they are being fired at, her fringe is smoothed away from her face. The next time we see her part of her fringe is falling across her forehead, and in the shot after that it is back in place.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" When the Death Star is approaching the Yavin Base to superlaser it, the times to arrival at the laser firing point don't even come close to matching the ones on the clock on the monitor of the control room.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Even after Darth Vader's TIE's laser hits R2, he appears undamaged for the rest of the Battle of Yavin. He doesn't even appear damaged until the return to the base following the Death Star's destruction.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" When Luke enters the Yavin hangar bay, the rebel "bird" insignia on his helmet is a uniform bright red. In subsequent shots it's a dark, blotchy red and the insignia is outlined in black.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" C3PO tells Luke Sywalker, as Luke is about to get his father's lightsaber from Ben, he is going to shut down if not needed anymore. His head movements change from shot to shot as he is exposed when Luke is playing with the lightsaber.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" The restraining bolt placed on R2-D2 by the Jawas moves between scenes.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" After Leia blasts a hole into the garbage chamber and jumps in, Chewbacca begins to step into the hole. The shot cuts to Luke, but when it cuts back to Chewie he is once again beginning to step into the hole.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" During the assault on the Death Star, all the pilot's voices are distorted when heard over their intercom. That is until Luke takes charge. From that moment, all the intercom voices are crystal clear.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" After a Stormtrooper stuns Leia in the opening scene, he walks over to inspect her. However, when he tells his companions to inform Lord Vader, the stripes on the tube-like part of his helmet are missing.

Crew or equipment visible

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" When the Falcon is on approach to the Death Star's docking bay, you can see the support prop under the vehicle. This was not corrected on the DVD releases.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" When 3PO is arguing with R2D2 about which direction they should walk, the camera and the dolly track are reflected in 3PO's helmet.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Part of Kenny Baker's face visible through R2-D2's eye in the Sandcrawler.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" When Han Solo is arguing with Jabba the Hutt, Jabba yells: "Come on!" and jerks to the left. As he jerks, we see dark crescent-moon object: Declan Mulholland's head, not fully covered by the animated figure of Jabba that was superimposed later. Since Jabba was re-animated for the 2004 DVD release, that is the only time it is seen.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" When Han is going to the falcon,you can see the shadow of a crew member walk up to him.

Factual errors

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Denis Lawson's name is misspelled "Dennis" in the credits, and was not fixed in the 1997 special edition.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Long-distance travel in the Star Wars galaxy is variously referred to as "going to lightspeed" (the Millenium Falcon can make "point-five above lightspeed", according to Han) or "making the jump into hyperspace" using a "hyperdrive", even when talking about a single vessel. These are two completely different concepts for reducing the travel time between star systems: in everyday terms, it is like equating "drive faster" with "take a shortcut" as ways to get to your destination sooner.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" A laser fires at the speed of light, and would not appear as pulses of energy like projectile weapons, but would instead instantly connect the gun with the target.

Incorrectly regarded as goofs

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Although Tatooine has two suns, the angular distance between them is quite small, so only very large objects would cast two distinct shadows.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" During the final Death Star battle, Red Leader says, "Stay there, I just lost my starboard engine" shortly before we see his fighter get hit. However, he may not have lost it due to a hit; it may have had a mechanical failure that just came at a really bad time.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" After Greedo is killed in the Cantina we see him again crossing a street in the distance as Han and Luke are walking down the street. However, it's probably another alien of the same species, and they just look alike.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Considering what we now know from Star Wars 1-3, why doesn't Obi-Wan remember R2D2 and C3PO? We know C3PO's memory was wiped, so he wouldn't remember Obi-Wan, but Obi-Wan should remember R2D2, and vice-versa. However, there's no indication that he doesn't remember R2D2, he only says that he doesn't remember "owning a droid", which is actually true to some extent. (See also the FAQ entry about this issue.)

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" When telling Obi-Wan and Luke how fast the Millennium Falcon is, Han says it "made the Kessel run in under 12 parsecs." A parsec is not a measure of time. It is a measure of distance (approximately 3.26 light years or just over 19 trillion miles.) However, he was actually referring to the shorter route he was able to travel by skirting the nearby Maw black hole cluster, thus making the run in under the standard distance.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" During the skirmish at the beginning of the movie, C3PO says to R2D2 "there will be no escape for the Princess this time." (The script reads "There'll be no escape for the Captain this time," foreshadowing the next scene where Vader strangles the Captain.) Later, C3PO sees a picture of the Princess and claims not to know who she is. It's likely that it was programmed not to divulge any important information that may endanger the mission of the Princess.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" When Obi-Wan talks to Luke about the force for the first time, there's no mention of "midichlorians" because they didn't exist back in 1977, when this movie first came out. It's clear George Lucas had a good overall idea of where he wanted his story to go, however it's also clear that many little details, including midichlorians, were added later on. Obi-Wan doesn't mention them here because Lucas hadn't thought them up yet. From the character's point of view, midichlorians are trivial and not significant enough to mention.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Some viewers have noted that the Jawas' eyes are obviously just light bulbs. However, in this fictional universe it is possible that Jawas' eyes have coincidentally evolved to look like light-bulbs.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" In the lightsaber fight between Vader and Obi Wan, David Prowse's eyes are visible through the Darth Vader helmet lenses. However, this is not an error because Darth Vader is a man (Anakin Skywalker), and as seen at the end of Return of the Jedi, Vader's face is still intact with fully functional eyes, which could understandably be revealed through his mask.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" When Vader is in his TIE Fighter in the Battle of Yavin, more than once you can see the eyes and eyebrows of David Prowse through the visors on Vader's mask. Again, this is not an error because Darth Vader is a man (Anakin Skywalker), and as seen at the end of Return of the Jedi, Vader's face is still intact with fully functional eyes, which could understandably be revealed through his mask.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" During the Death Star battle, you hear: "Red 6, can you see Red 5?" and a voice seems to answer. This is after Porkins, who was Red 6, has been destroyed. But there is a hectic space battle going on with tons of Rebel and Imperial ships - and as a result, tons of radio calls. The response was likely an irrelevant call that just happened to be sent at an inopportune moment.

Revealing mistakes

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" When Luke activates his light saber after Obi Wan gives it to him, the reflection on C3P0 only shows the hilt, not the blue blade

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" At the end of the movie, many of the gathered soldiers are plainly cardboard cutouts.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Rubber sole of Chewbacca's foot visible as he follows Han Solo in the Death Star.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" During Kenobi's final lightsaber battle with Vader, Kenobi tips his lightsaber downwards, right before a scene change. The white "glow" that should be there isn't, showing the stick-like prop the actors used in filming. There is a small white light at the tip, too. This was not fixed in the Special Edition, but it was finally fixed on the 2004 DVD.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" When Darth Vader releases Admiral Motti and he slumps on the desk, the force of the impact makes the whole set wobble.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Just before Leia and Luke swing across the chasm in the Death Star (and at other times), the "blasters" they are shooting are seen to eject shell casings. This is because the guns used in the movie are just dressed-up blank-firing prop guns.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" During a gun battle just before Luke and Han Solo escape down the garbage chute, some close-ups of Luke and Han show flesh-colored make-up smeared from under their chins onto the white plastic Imperial armor they are wearing. These makeup smears do not appear in longer shots, but show up in a couple of close shots during the scene.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" At the start of the Vader vs. Ben lightsaber battle, when Ben turns his on, a cord can be seen that runs up Ben's sleeve.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" When Luke is searching for the runaway R2D2, a rope can be seen dragging a droid that passes in the foreground from right to left.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Leia blasts a hole in the wall to escape the detention level, leaving the remains of bars at the top of the hole. When Luke jumps down the garbage chute, his feet hit the bars lightly, making them shake, since they are made of foam.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" The arm of the crane supporting the floating torture device is visible for a second or two when it enters Leia's cell. The needle on the device bears the letters "British Made".

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" When Princess Leia grabs the bar to stop the compactor, her hand puts a dent in the bar itself.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" After Vader strikes down Obi-Wan by the hangar door inside the Death Star, Vader's lightsaber is revealed only as a white stick. The lightsaber's red glow is gone and you can clearly see the white pole as the actors used it on the set. This mistake has been corrected for the CGI-enhanced special edition and DVD edition, but is still visible in the old VHS and Laser Disc versions.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" When R2 is being picked up by the Jawas after he is stunned and has fallen onto his face, a Jawa's sleeve pulls up revealing a portion of the actor's bare forearm.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" When Obi-Wan activates his lightsaber to fight Vader, he is clearly just holding the saber so the long end points directly at the camera, and rotating it slowly to create the illusion of the blade appearing.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" In the 2004 edition, in the duel between Vader and Ben, Vader's bright red lightsaber is not reflected on his mask.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" In the Special Edition, when Luke and Obi-Wan first enter Mos Eisley, the shadows (real and CGI) indicate the sun is near overhead. However, the large CGI beast that is passed has a shadow that indicates it is several hours later. Shadows appear consistent after that.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" When the Jawas come to the homestead, one of the shots has a tall Jawa tinkering with one of the droids with "normal-sized" Jawas in the foreground.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" The technical data that R2D2 uploads to the Rebels shows a schematic image of the Death Star with at the "laser divot" along the equator of the Death Star, not off-center like it was constructed. This is because the schematics were from different concept art of the Death Star not used in the final movie version.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" When Han puts his feet on the control board where Kenobi leaves them you can see that the boots of his storm trooper armor are really just normal leather work boots painted white. You can see the elastic fabric on the sides of the boots are still there.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Most of the times, when Luke or Ben ignite or deactivate a lightsaber, the saber is not shown igniting or deactivating; just the sound effect his heard. And the times when it IS shown, even though it is supposed to be one shot, the character or his/her body part is in a slightly different location after the weapon is ignited than before the weapon is ignited, indicating two separate shots.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" When Luke tries to put the handcuffs on Chewie in the Death Star control room, you can see two holes in Chewie's mouth that let Peter Mayhew breathe through the costume.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Shot of Princess Leia and C-3PO monitoring the Rebels' attack on the Death Star has been reversed.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" The shot of R2-D2 being prepped for reading the Death Star plans is a mirror image.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" The shot of Darth Vader dueling Ben and saying "You should not have come back" is a mirror image - the three silver buttons on his chest plate are on the right instead of the left.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" After C-3PO and R2-D2 split up on Tatooine, C-3PO has an oil streak down his right side. When he comes across the large skeleton in the sand, the oil streak has switched to the left (film was flipped). When he is calling and waving to the Sandcrawler, the oil is back on the right side.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Vader kills Captain Raymus Antilles, and thrown his body into a wall. The "dead" man puts his hands out to protect himself from the impact.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" In the Special Edition, as a figure passes in front of Luke and Biggs in the rebel hangar, R2D2's position jumps as he is being lifted up to the top of the X-Wing fighter (right side of the frame). This is a result of editing out a section of the scene where Red Leader mentions having known Luke's father. The passing figure is intended to mask the edit, but the jump in R2's position reveals the edit. This is mainly evident in the widescreen format.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" (Special Edition) On the morning after R2's escape the image fades up to reveal the deserted courtyard of the homestead. Uncle Owen is heard calling for Luke who, as we find out a few seconds later, has already left with his Landspeeder in order to look for the missing droid. However, a close inspection of the courtyard shot reveals a ghost-like image of Luke in a doorway to the right. He seems frozen in mid-stride and has been slightly blended into the surrounding set, thereby turning somewhat transparent. This strange cameo is not featured in the original release.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" On Tatooine when C-3PO and R2-D2 are walking (and Rolling) away from the Escape Pod, you can clearly see the hatch is off and is blue. Clearly meant to be edited but never filled.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" When the stormtroopers raid the rebel corvette at the beginning of the film, there is an initial over-the-shoulder shot of the door Darth Vader walks through. A wire is visible on the far left part of the screen close to one of the rebel guard's helmet that is not seen in subsequent shots. (It is not a rigid wire, and, therefore, is not part of the helmet.)

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" When Luke, Ben, and the droids are in the landspeeder approaching the stormtroopers at Mos Eisley just prior to the famous scene "These aren't the droids you're looking for" the starboard engine cover is clearly empty.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" At the Mos Eisley Cantina, Luke gets into it with two criminals and gets thrown at a wall. Obi Wan Kenobi then turns on his lightsaber and proceeds to cut one of the criminal's arm off. Then there is a closeup of the severed arm and there is blood on the ground. Lightsabers usually "seal" the cuts they make allowing no blood to come out.

crazy credits

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" When first released theatrically, prior to the film, a generic screen reading in green letters "A Lucasfilm Limited Production" appeared. In all versions from the Special Edition onward, this is replaced with a more elaborate Lucasfilm logo that shines and glows.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" To compensate for the new special edition credits inserted in versions 1997 and beyond, a longer instrumental suite plays during the credits roll, integrating various themes from throughout the film.

Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: "A New Hope" Star Wars has no opening credits. Instead, the first credits seen at the end of the film are presented in the order in which they would have otherwise been shown at the start. Although by the late 1990s it was commonplace for films to not have opening credits, in 1977 it was somewhat unusual for a major film to not have opening credits.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) In the asteroid scene, one of the asteroids is actually a shoe. The rumor is that George Lucas asked the SFX people to redo the scene so many times that they got annoyed and one of them threw in their shoe.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Another of the asteroids is actually a potato. It appears just as the Millennium Falcon first enters the field. Two asteroids travel from the top left to the bottom right corner of the screen. Just after the second asteroid leaves the screen a third one appears in the top left corner. This is the potato.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Lighting for SFX was so strong that several models melted.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) The AT-ATs were inspired by the walking machines in H.G. Wells's "War of the Worlds" and their appearance was based on gantry cranes which are used in most shipping ports in the USA. Walking patterns of elephants were studied to make the movements seem as realistic as possible.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Further scenes with the Wampa were shot, and later cut. R2-D2 encountered one within the Rebel base, where it was killed by troopers. Later, the beasts were lured into a prison within the complex. In the completed film, a medical droid is seen examining the wounds of a tauntaun killed by a Wampa, and Princess Leia mentions the "creatures" while discussing the Imperial probe droid. A scene filmed but cut had Han, Leia and C-3PO running through a corridor. Han went to take a short-cut through a door with a sign on it, but Leia warned him "that's where those creatures are kept". They run off, but not before C-3PO rips off the sign, hoping that the stormtroopers will enter the room. They did. A few seconds of this last scene can be seen in the theatrical trailer on the DVD.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) The blasters used by the stormtroopers were constructed from Sterling L2A3 Mk 4 submachine guns.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) There seems to be many stories behind Alec Guinness and his role as Obi-Wan Kenobi. In George Lucas's original treatment (When it was ALL one story instead of a trilogy), Obi-Wan lives throughout the whole story (A fact confirmed by Lucas in the DVD Commentary). However, Obi-Wan ends up getting killed off in the first film (Star Wars, Episode IV: A New Hope). There are many stories as to why Lucas changed it. There are some stories that either Guinness demanded that Obi-Wan was killed off so he wouldn't have to appear in any sequels or Lucas did it on his own much to the bitterness of Guinness. In the Star Wars, Episode IV: A New Hope DVD Commentary, Lucas says that he felt it was a waste of Guinness's talents to have him stand beside Leia in the control room during the Death Star battle (as it was scripted) and too outlandish to have the elderly Obi-Wan join the dogfight. So he killed off Obi-Wan in order to spur Luke on to going into Jedi training and defeat the Empire. In any event, when it came time to make Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980), in which Luke begins his training, Lucas drew from the "ugly creature with mystical powers" mythological archetype (as he did when creating Star Wars) and created Yoda as Luke's new Jedi master. Eventually, Alec Guinness was lured back into the role of Obi-Wan when he was promised more money. Therefore creating the "force spirit" motif that remains throughout the rest of the films, including the new trilogy.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Episode V is the only Star Wars film not to gross $300 million domestically.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) In the DVD commentary, Carrie Fisher relates that during some of the London filming, she stayed a house rented from Eric Idle. Idle and the Pythons were filming Life of Brian at the time. One evening, Idle had a small party, including Harrison Ford and The Rolling Stones, and served a potent liquor (which the Pythons had been distributing to extras on their film, to help boost morale) that he referred to as "Tunisian Table Cleaner". They stayed up most of the night drinking and having fun. The first scenes shot the next day were the arrival at Cloud City, which she says helps explain why she and Ford were so happy in those scenes. Idle is said to be pleased that he had a small hand in how the finished film turned out.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Originaly, the scene where Han rescues Luke on Hoth was to have been filmed at Elstree Studios, and only Mark Hamill was needed on location in Norway. But when a blizzard made it impossible to film anywhere but near the hotel, Harrison Ford was summoned to Finse, anyway. Unable to travel by train, he arrived in the engine compartment of a snow clearance vehicle.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Carrie Fisher traveled to the filming location of Finse, Norway, even though she was not scheduled to take part in any outdoor scenes.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) The Dagobah set needed to be elevated to give Frank Oz and three other puppeteers room to control the Yoda puppet from below. For proper interaction, Mark Hamill was given an earpiece so he could hear Oz doing Yoda's voice. On numerous occasions, Irvin Kershner would give a direction to Yoda by mistake and Oz would have to remind him who to talk to.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Original start date of shooting at Elstree was slated to start in March 1979 but was delayed for three months because at that time, set 3 of the studio which was used for The Shining was burned down and had to be rebuilt at a higher scale

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) About twenty minutes into the movie there is a shot in the Hoth base control room in which we hear Han's voice over radio describing what's left of the probe droid. One of the background sound effects in this shot was taken from the Canadian shortwave time signal station CHU, which can be heard at 3.330 and 7.335 MHz.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Director Irvin Kershner provided the voice of Darth Vader himself in the temporary mix of the film, before James Earl Jones recorded the final version.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) For the 2004 DVDs, the scene with Darth Vader and the Emperor were redone replacing Clive Revill with Ian McDiarmid who played the Emperor in the rest of the series. The dialogue was re-recorded with Ian McDiarmid and James Earl Jones. Some additional dialogue was added.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) The scene in the Cloud City apartment where Han Solo enters to tell Princess Leia that the repairs on the Millennium Falcon are almost complete played out differently in the finished film than it did in the original script. There, Han Solo (Harrison Ford) is lounging around in the apartment when Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) enters, having changed from the white combat clothes she wore on Hoth to the brown dress and having her hair done up differently. In surprised reaction to how she's dressed, Solo attempts to flatter her ("You look beautiful. You should wear girls clothes all the time.") and Leia teases him by mentioning Luke; the scene ended with them sharing a kiss. The film was originally shot this way, but director Irvin Kershner felt it wasn't coming out right, so he re-shot it to appear as it does in the finished film. Excerpts of how the scene was originally filmed can now be seen on the special edition DVD.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Having Han Solo frozen in carbonite was (at least in part) due to the fact that they were not sure that Harrison Ford would return for a third film. When the original Star Wars was made Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill were signed for a three picture deal, but Harrison Ford refused. Ford even requested George Lucas to kill off Solo, since the character had played its part already, but Lucas refused, saying that he still had a heroic part for Han Solo to play in Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Production difficulties meant that the film went over budget by $10 million.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) The Empire Strikes Back is the biggest grossing film of 1980.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Second unit director John Barry joined the film after quitting Saturn 3 following a dispute with that film's star, Kirk Douglas). Barry died of meningitis during production.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Director Harley Cokeliss, who was a friend of Frank Oz having worked with him on The Muppet Show, visited the set towards the end of filming when the production team were struggling to get everything in the can before they ran over schedule. Cokeliss was hired on the spot as an additional director and is credited as one of the Second Unit Directors.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Irvin Kershner initially turned down the opportunity to direct the film as he felt that it would be too difficult to top the success of Star Wars. He took the job when his agent convinced him that he shouldn't pass on the opportunity to make a sequel to one of the most popular movies in history.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Principal photography lasted over 170 days, the longest shoot of any of the "Star Wars" movies.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Several crates of simulated snow as seen on the Hoth Hangar set were taken along to Finse, Norway, just in case there was not enough real snow lying about.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) The entire Millennium Falcon was built live size for the first and only time for this installment (only half of the spacecraft was constructed for Star Wars and just part of it was used for the deleted sandstorm scene in Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi). It measured 65 feet in diameter and 16 feet in height with a mandible giving it an overall length of 80 feet. The Falcon's weight was 23 tons.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) The Millennium Falcon was constructed in a hangar at Pembroke Docks where great flying boats were made in the 1930s. It was brought to Elstree studios, London in sixteen interlocking sections by a convoy of trucks. After reassembly, the Falcon was floated into position on the then brand new Star Wars stage by means of compressed air pads similar to those used on hovercraft.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Eight R2D2's were used in the making of Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back. Kenny Baker used two that were lighter and more comfortable than the ones from Star Wars. Three were dummy versions which could be damaged and another three were remote controlled.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Producer Gary Kurtz's wife Meredith organized a picnic on the Dagobah set for the wrap party on Friday, August 31 1979.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) During principal photography it remained unclear if Sir Alec Guinness would return as Obi Wan Kenobi. Guinness was suffering from an eye infection at the time and was still a bit upset about the last minute decision of his character being killed off in Star Wars. He finally did agree and worked one day on the film: Wednesday September 5 1979

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) In order to avoid sharing creative rights, George Lucas decided to avoid using a major studio to finance this film. Instead, he bankrolled the $33 million production himself, using a combination of his profits from Star Wars and a bank loan. Although the move was risky, it paid off several times over. Lucas recovered his million investment within three months of the film's release. He then showed gratitude far beyond the Hollywood norm, by sharing the profits with his employees (nearly $5 million in bonuses).

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) To preserve the dramatic opening of the Star Wars movies, George Lucas insisted on moving all the credits to the end of the film. However, although the Writers' Guild and Directors' Guild had begrudgingly allowed this on Star Wars (because that film wasn't expected to be very successful), they resented the trend being continued on this film. First they tried to pull Empire from release, but were unsuccessful. They then fined Lucas heavily, and tried to fine Irvin Kershner, but Lucas paid all the fines himself (nearly $250,000). Lucas then bitterly dropped his membership in the Writers' Guild, Directors' Guild, and the Motion Picture Association of America, a move that has hindered his hiring choices on later films (see also Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi and Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith).

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) The carbon freezing chamber is the only time in the original trilogy that Darth Vader and C3PO can be seen on screen together.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) A total of 64 sets were constructed for the movie.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) The scene where Solo was hit by the toolbox as well as hitting the control panels were improvised on the set. At first, the crew were afraid of shooting it, but Irvin Kershner finally persuaded them to do so, saying "Come on, that's fun. Let's do it!"

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) The two other scenes, which are the swamps of Dagobah; and the asteroid's creature (which has the Millenium Falcon) was done on the same sound stage used for the interior backgrounds of the Echo base in Hoth.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) The scenes where R2-D2 is submerged in the mud pool were shot in George Lucas' unfinished swimming pool. Most of the crew were hidden under the water and the entire sequence was shot by George Lucas himself.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Luke cuts off the Wampa's arm. C-3PO loses an arm when blasted by the Stormtroopers. Darth Vader cuts off Luke's hand. See also Star Wars and Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) A scene where Darth Vader's shuttle lands in his Star Destroyer's landing bay, after his light saber fight with Luke, was added to the Special Edition. This was actually an unused scene from Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) More scenes of the AT-ST Imperial "chicken walkers" were filmed, but George Lucas decided that the larger AT-ATs were more menacing and impressive. He later realized that the AT-STs would work better in close quarters, which led to using them extensively in the forest battle in Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) The incident where R2-D2 accidentally electrocutes himself by mistaking a power outlet for a computer terminal was taken from the novelization for Star Wars.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) For the Special Edition, Vader's "Bring my shuttle" line has been replaced with, "Alert my Star Destroyer to prepare for my arrival." Sound designer Ben Burtt claimed this is actually a line performed by James Earl Jones that was recorded for use in Star Wars, but never used; however, not only does the voice sound nothing like James Earl Jones, but the famous Imperial ships were NOT called Star Destroyers in the original film, but "star cruisers" -- even the novelization calls them such, so this one line would be an odd bit of discontinuity if Burtt's claims were true.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Denis Lawson plays Wedge Antilles. Wedge was not originally scripted to appear in this film, but intense fan interest prompted George Lucas to include him. See also Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Leigh Brackett succumbed to cancer shortly after completing her first draft of the script of the film.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) The voice-over line "The first transport is away" during the Rebel evacuation was re-recorded by 'Mark Hamill 1997 for the Special Edition release.(I)'.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Mark Hamill's wife gave birth to their first son (Nathan Hamill) early one morning, and Mark went straight from the hospital to shooting. This was the day they filmed the shots of Luke hanging by the weather vane below Cloud City, on Bespin.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) After an extra fell sick, Jeremy Bulloch (Boba Fett) was called in as a replacement to the Imperial Guard who escorts Princess Leia and pulls her into the elevator after she screams "Luke! It's a trap!". He's the same Imperial Guard who is captured by Lando Calrissian's men.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) In the original script when Lando is about to lead Han, Leia, and Chewie into the trap set by Darth Vader, Lando offers his arm to Leia, as a gesture to lead her down the hallway and she accepts it. Harrison Ford ad-libbed Han coming up behind Leia and offering his arm to her at the exact same moment to imply that Han was jealous.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Carrie Fisher stood on a box for many of her scenes with Harrison Ford in order to make up for the height difference and have her appear in the frame with him. Carrie Fisher is about a foot shorter than Harrison Ford.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Luke is upside-down at the beginning (Wampa cave), in the middle (training on Dagobah), and at the end (below Cloud City). He uses the Force each time.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) The shots where Luke uses his Jedi powers to retrieve his lightsaber from a distance were achieved by having Mark Hamill throw the lightsaber away and then running the film in reverse.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Darth Vader's costume was more detailed in this film, including the flashing red lights on his chest box. A new Millennium Falcon (32-inches long) was built for this film and has two additional landing gear boxes on its underside. As a result, the original Star Wars model (5-foot long) was modified and given the extra landing gear bays and was used for all FX scenes of the Falcon in a landed position.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) The concept design for Cloud City was originally created for Star Wars (as a floating Imperial prison), but was never used. The design was recycled for use in this film.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) The lightsaber fight scenes set in the carbon freezing chamber tend to focus on Luke. This is because during many of the shots, Bob Anderson (Vader's fight double) was not wearing the Darth Vader helmet, as it made it difficult for him to breathe.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Mark Hamill had to bang his head 16 times on the ceiling of Yoda's hut before the director was satisfied.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) During the filming of the Battle of Hoth, the Echo Base troops were actually Norwegian mountain-rescue skiers. In exchange for participation in the film, Lucasfilm made a donation to the Norwegian Red Cross

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) George Lucas was so impressed by Frank Oz's performance as Yoda that he spent thousands of dollars on an advertising campaign to try and get him an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Lucas's campaign ultimately failed because it was felt that a puppeteer wasn't an actor.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Han Solo is the only non-Jedi/Sith in the entire original trilogy to ever use a lightsaber when he cuts open the tauntaun's belly.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) For the Dagobah scenes, Mark Hamill was the only one listed on the callsheets as an actor. Everyone else was listed as crew.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) George Lucas decided that a battle on an ice planet was necessary because he felt that it was easy to "cheat" in space, because the background was black and you could hide errors easily. With a white background, the effects crews would have to work much harder, and the effects would be much more impressive.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) The book "Star Wars: The Annotated Screenplays" reveals that, when the script for this movie was first written, the idea of it being "Episode V" of a 6 (or 9) part serial had not yet been established, and it was at one point called Episode II.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) The AT-AT Imperial walkers were all animated through classic stop-motion techniques, except for the scenes where they fall, for example the walker which is "tripped up" by cables and falls on its face, or the one that Luke throws a grenade into, which falls on its side. These were filmed in real-time with precision-timed mini-pyrotechnic charges.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Most of the rebel ground troops in the Hoth battle were Norwegian extras. Because they didn't speak any English, second unit director Peter MacDonald had to "act out" what he wanted them to do, by pointing in the direction of the "enemy" (which wasn't visible during shooting) and demonstrating the recoil motion he wanted for the blaster rifles.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) With the exception of being sucked out of a Cloud City window, Mark Hamill did all of his own stunts.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Most of the extras in the snowy battle scenes on the ice planet Hoth (shot at Finse, Norway) were Norwegians. One of the extras - Tom Egeland - would later become the chief news editor for one of Norway's largest TV networks, as well as a critically acclaimed mystery writer, one of the others - Arve Juritzen - would become one of Norway's best known TV-personalities (hosting eg. Vil du bli millionær?, Big Brother Norge).

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Yaphet Kotto was offered the role of Lando Calrissian, but turned it down because he believed he would be killed off and it would be difficult for him to find work after that.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Producer Gary Kurtz came up with the title for the movie.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Producer Gary Kurtz directed the scene in which Luke flees the Wampa ice cave. Kurtz took over John Barry's second unit duties after Barry suddenly died on the set, and until his replacement, Harley Cokeliss, arrived.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) As Yoda and Obi-Wan urge Luke to stay on Dagobah to finish his training, Luke pulls a snake from his spaceship. Irvin Kershner assured Mark Hamill that the snake was harmless, though it did bite him during one take.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) The only Star Wars Original Trilogy film that does not take place on the desert planet Tatooine (although it is mentioned by name at the end of the film). Tatooine also appears in Episodes I, II, and III, making it the only planet that appears five times in the entire saga.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) At 30, has the lowest body count of the entire Star Wars saga.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) One of the first ideas for Lando Calrissian was to have him as a clone who survived the Clone Wars who leads legions of clones on a planet they settled on. Another idea had Lando as the descendant of survivors of the Clone Wars, born into a family who reproduced solely by cloning. Originally, his name was "Lando Kadar".

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) One of the bounty hunters that Darth Vader hires to find Han Solo, IG-88, can be seen in the Cloud City. IG-88 is a droid, and his dead body is sitting next to a furnace in the room where C-3PO is dismantled.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) WILHELM SCREAM: Heard twice in the film. Once during the battle on Hoth as a rebel soldier and his laser gun dish explodes. And right before Han is going to frozen in the carbonite. As Chewie, in a fit if rage, throws a stormtrooper of the ledge (barely audible).

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) The sound of R2-D2 moving was produced by recording the sound of a car window motor in operation.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) The sound of the Tauntauns was produced by recording the sound of an Asian sea otter named Moda.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) The sound of the snow swirling on Hoth was produced by recording surf sounds and then alternatey increasing and decreasing the volume.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) The entire sequence with the Wampa attack was designed to explain the difference in appearance of Mark Hamill, who had been in involvedin a car accident in between shooting and had a large chunk of his nose missing. Noticeably, Kershner does not show much of Hamill's nose before the Wampa attack. The scene, however, was part of the story before Hamill's accident.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) This is the first film to have a 5.1 surround sound mix.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Production was stopped at one point following the death of studio second unit director John Barry. Harley Cokeliss took over Barry's duties.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Yoda's appearance was originally designed by British makeup artist Stuart Freeborn, who based Yoda's face partly on his own and partly on Albert Einstein's, as his eyes are supposedly inspired by the latter. Yoda is voiced by Frank Oz. In the original Star Wars trilogy, he is realized as a puppet (controlled by Oz).

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) In an interview with Cinescape magazine, director Irvin Kershner said that he thought the first film was trashy and how he had no interest in films with special effects. However, he was won over by George Lucas, although Kershner was determined to make the film more about characterizations than hardware. Kershner spent several months working on the script, pushing the writers into humanizing the characters more (something that Lucas has often been criticized for failing to do).

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Gary Kurtz was initially reluctant for George Lucas to hand over the reins to another director. It was only because Lucas trusted Irvin Kershner, his former teacher at USC, that Kurtz agreed to the move.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) The chasm deep in the heart of Bespin in which Luke and Vader have their lightsaber duel was created using a matte painting. The same strategy was used in the original film in the scene where Luke and Leia blast Stormtroopers across an inactive bridge.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) When shooting on location in Norway, a fierce snow storm hit the hotel where cast and crew were staying. This would have normally halted filming, but director Irvin Kershner thought these weather conditions were an excellent opportunity to film the scene where Luke wanders through the snow after escaping the Wampa cave. He did this by sending Mark Hamill outside into the cold, while he and the cameraman stayed and filmed inside the hotel's front hall.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) When Han Solo is about to be frozen, Princess Leia says, "I love you." In the original script, Han Solo was supposed to say, "Just remember that, Leia, because I'll be back," but at the time of filming, Harrison Ford wasn't entirely certain he did want to come back for a third film. There is a recurring legend that his line, "I know", was ad-libbed; however Alan Arnold's book "Once Upon A Galaxy: A Journal of the Making of The Empire Strikes Back" includes a transcription of the discussion between Ford and Irvin Kershner in which Ford suggested the line.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Harold Weed, an ILM staffer who assisted in designing the Wampa costume for the Special Edition, was cast as the Wampa for the film after he was used as the model for the costume. As he is 6 feet tall, the ice cave set for the re shoots was built with a height of 4 1/2 to 5 feet to create the illusion of the Wampa being closer to 8 or 9 feet in height.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) In the Hoth command center, Han references "That bounty hunter we ran into on Ord Mandell". "Rebel Mission to Ord Mandell" was released in 1983 as an NPR radio drama, and later on 33 1/3 LP. It starred the voices of many of the original cast.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Jim Henson, a friend of George Lucas, was offered the role of Yoda. Henson turned it down, but suggested it to Frank Oz.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Boba Fett's action figure was originally to have had a rocket-firing mechanism, but after a child choked to death on a similar toy, Kenner dropped the mechanism and made the rocket stationary. A trace of the rocket launcher survived to the completed toy, however, as there is a rectangular area on the backpack in which the rocket launcher would have been embedded. The version with the mechanism is now considered the longest-running unobtainable action figure; contrary to popular belief, it was never sold to the public.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) The bounty hunters are never referred to by name. Every time Boba Fett is referenced, he is called "the bounty hunter".

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Yoda's iconic manner of speech (i.e: "begun the war has" and things like this) has the parts of speech in Object Subject Verb order. Very few languages on Earth use this and most are based in the Amazon river basin.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) It has been widely rumored that Luke's injury early in the film was included to explain the difference in Mark Hamill's appearance, as a result of a car accident he had been in shortly after the release of the first film. In fact, however, that scene was already in the early drafts of the script before Hamill's accident.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Was filmed at the same studios as Stanley Kubrick's The Shining. Author Stephen King visited the set, and many aspects of this film affected King's later work. Irvin Kershner was nicknamed "Kersh" on the set. King's novel It features a character named Mrs. Kersh, who sounds like Yoda. Writer Lawrence Kasdan went on to direct Dreamcatcher.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) This movie featured the first appearance of the Emperor whom appeared as a hologram to Darth Vader. The 'Emperor' was actually portrayed by an elderly female stand-in with a hood and heavy makeup. The yellow, Dark-Force eyes were in fact chimpanzee eyes superimposed over the stand-in's eyes to give the Emperor a less-human, more unworldly look. The Emperor's voice was provided by Clive Revill who provided the voice only and not the appearance.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Harrison Ford was not expected to take part in the Norway leg of filming which represented the scenes based on the ice planet of Hoth, so his costume was built for the stage and consequently not very well insulated. At the last minute, weather conditions were such that the schedule needed to be changed, and it was decided to shoot his scenes in Norway instead.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) The only way to get to the set in the midst of a blizzard during filming in Norway was on a snowplow train, which had a giant auger on the front, pushing through the snow to deliver the actors to the set. The weather conditions were so severe that the crew put the camera in the back door of the hotel the cast and crew were staying and shot from out the door, 12 feet from the hotel out in the blizzard.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) The swamp creature that tries to swallow R2D2 is never given a name in the film. It was eventually revealed, however, in the Super Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back video game to be Hagobad (appropriately, an anagram of Dagobah, its home planet.)

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Darth Vader's command module is said to be a hyperbaric chamber which charges the interior air to greater than one atmospheric pressure, thus allowing him to remove his helmet and breathe normally for limited periods of time; this was not as originally presented in the film, however, which featured an additional breathing mask for Vader in the chamber, which was notoriously shown for only a split second and never made it into the official continuity.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) The name of Vader's super star destroyer is "Executor".

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) The bounty hunter dressed all in white is named Dengar. His backstory is that he was once a fierce rival of Han Solo's, and was badly beaten by him. He vowed revenge and has been hunting Solo for some time.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) The mechanical bounty hunter is named IG-88, and is an assassin droid with a "disassemble on sight" bounty of its own.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) The only movie in the original Star Wars trilogy in which the Jedi mind trick is never used. In Star Wars, Obi-Wan Kenobi uses the Jedi mind trick to get past the Stormtroopers on Tatooine, and in Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi, Luke Skywalker uses (and attempts to use) the mind trick several times inside Jabba's palace.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) In an early outtake, when Vader entered the Hoth base, he tripped over a cable and fell down face-first.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) In the Star Wars galaxy, travel between the solar systems is via hyperspace routes; essentially, super-highways between stars. The route containing the planet Hoth is the equivalent of an unpaved road, which was why Admiral Ozzel was so skeptical that the rebels were there.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Han Solo's use of his mount's entrails to keep Luke warm is actually an American Indian trick. According to legend, an Indian hunter had killed a bear and then became trapped by a sudden blizzard. He cut open the bear's stomach and climbed inside and stayed warm and safe until the storm had subsided.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) The armored speeders parked at the rebel base on Hoth were built by Ogle Design Ltd. of Letchworth Heath, near London. ODL is known for manufacturing the famous/infamous three-wheeled Reliant sports car.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) May the Force be with you is only said once. Its the last line of the movie, spoken by Luke.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Luke is separated from most of the main characters for the majority of the film.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Obi-Wan only appears twice in the film. Alec Guinness performed the scene forgoing his fee, as a favor to George Lucas.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Director Irvin Kershner decided that for this movie, members of the Rebel Alliance would speak with American accents, while the Imperial Officers would speak with British accents, to make the story analogous to the American Revolution. However, most of the supporting actors that appeared as Rebel personnel on Hoth were in-fact British actors. Consequently, Kershner had to re-dub several of the scenes taking place at the Hoth rebel base with American voices in post production.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) The Cloud City of Bespin has an art deco design that was based on "machine age" designs from the 1920s-1930s.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) One of only two Star Wars films without English subtitles to translate alien languages, the other being Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Before Star Wars had even been released, Mark Hamill was nearly killed in an automobile accident and as a result, had to have reconstructive surgery on his face. George Lucas used the Wampa attack to explain Luke's altered appearance. When Hamill asked Lucas what he would have done if Hamill had been killed in the accident, Lucas told him that he would not have recast the part of Luke. Instead, a new character would have been introduced that would be linked genetically, in some way, to Luke. This link would also explain the new character's strength in the Force.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Features the only instance of breaking the fourth wall in the entire "Star Wars" saga. When several characters are escaping from the rebel base on Hoth as the Empire begins to invade, a door closes before C-3PO can exit through it, and he turns to the camera and mutters, "How typical."

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) George Lucas had originally planned to only Executive Produce and finance the film, leaving the directorial duties in the hands of Irvin Kershner and day-to-day producing duties to Gary Kurtz. Directing the original Star Wars had left Lucas exhausted and sick, and he had intended to take time off to start to focus on the expansion of the Lucasfilm company and spending more time with his then-wife Marcia Lucas, that they could start a family and finish construction on Skywalker Ranch. However, when production on this film ran overbudget and behind schedule, Lucas had to step in and take a more hands-on role, going on location to oversee filming and even directing portions of the film. Lucas' absence put a horrible strain on his marriage and health, especially when a disastrous rough cut of the film proved incoherent during screenings. With his entire fortune invested in the film and facing the possibility of financial ruin, Lucas then re-edited the film himself with even worse results. Extensive reshoots and further post-production effects work put enormous strain on Lucas' health, his marriage, and his relationships with Kershner and Kurtz. Though the film proved an enormous critical and commercial success, Lucas would never work with Kurtz again, and his marriage dissolved several years later.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Months prior to the film's release, John Williams was named Conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra. During Williams first televised performance with the Orchestra on PBS's Evening At Pops, he publicly premiered some of the new scoring pieces he composed for the movie.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) The film's most famous line is often misquoted. While many believe that Darth Vader says, "Luke, I am your father." He actually says, "No, I am your father." Even James Earl Jones, who provided the voice for Darth Vader, misquoted the line when referring to it on the Empire of Dreams: The Story of the 'Star Wars' Trilogy documentary.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) When Luke and Han say their goodbyes before the Battle of Hoth, it is the last time Harrison Ford and Mark Hamill are on screen together until they meet up in Jabba the Hutt's palace in Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi. There is one scene in Cloud City wherein Hamill shares a scene with a "carbonized" mannequin of Ford.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Security surrounding this movie was so intense that George Lucas had regular reports about "leaks" from actors. George Lucas was so determined that the ending be kept secret that he had David Prowse (Darth Vader) say "Obi-Wan killed your father", and dubbed it later to be "I am your father". In fact, only five people eventually knew about the ending before the film's release: George Lucas (came up with the idea in his second draft, after the death of Leigh Brackett), director Irvin Kershner (informed of such during story conferences), writer Lawrence Kasdan (also informed during story and script conferences), Mark Hamill (informed shortly before the shooting of the infamous scene), and James Earl Jones (told during the recording sessions for the final dub, and whom himself believed that Vader was lying).

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) In Leigh Brackett's original draft of the script, Darth Vader was not Luke's father. The character of Anakin Skywalker actually appeared in the film as a Force ghost to train Luke. Anakin's characterization was later split into the characters of Yoda, and to allow Obi-Wan Kenobi to appear in the film.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) During his battle with Vader, Luke's hand is severed and he loses his lightsaber (once used by Anakin/Vader and given to Luke by Obi-Wan). As part of the Expanded Universe, Luke's hand and lightsaber were recovered and kept by the Emperor as trophies. Later, the hand was used to create a clone of Luke that also wielded the lost saber. After the clone's death, Luke presented the lightsaber to Mara Jade, his future wife.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Leigh Brackett's first draft of the screenplay contained the revelation of Luke's sister, her existence disclosed by the ghost of Anakin Skywalker. Referred to as "Nellith Skywalker", Anakin explains that it was he, not Obi-Wan, who separated the twins at birth to protect them from Darth Vader, and that Nellith also underwent Jedi training in another part of the galaxy so she could join forces with Luke to defeat the Sith. This concept was dropped in the second draft of the screenplay, along with the appearance of Anakin Skywalker and replaced with a scene of Obi-Wan and Yoda discussing how they must find another Jedi apprentice in anticipation of Luke's failure. This too changed in later drafts, resulting in the more ambiguous scene in the final version where Yoda assures Obi-Wan that "another" exists.

GOOFS:

Audio/visual unsynchronised

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) One of Lando's lines don't match his jaw movements very well in the carbon-freezing chamber part.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) In the Dagobah scene, before Luke and R2-D2 have found Yoda (or Yoda found them), Luke plugs something into R2 then says: "Now, all I gotta do is find this Yoda - if he even exists." When he says: "If he even exists.", Luke's mouth doesn't move. The DVD tried to fix this by adding a little more texture every few half-seconds to Luke's mouth, but it is barely visible; they couldn't fix it without ruining the shot.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Shortly after the Millennium Falcon's escape from Bespin, when it is flying alongside the Executor, several shots strike it. However, these shots make no noise of any kind.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) After Luke cuts off the Wampa's arm he begins to stagger out of the cave into the snow, deactivating his lightsaber as he goes. The sound of the saber deactivating occurs but the saber is still completely active.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) In the opening scene, Luke is trying to calm his frightened tauntaun (before the wampa attack). As he says, "Hey, what's the matter? You smell something?" the boom microphone can be seen reflected in his goggles.

Character error

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) According to the credits, Luke's gunner in the Snowspeeder is named Dak. However, all other spin-off media (games, books, etc.) spells the name as Dack, which now seems to be official. Later versions of the movie (special edition, DVD release, etc.) do not correct this.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Towards the end when Chewbacca tries to go up the ramp of the Falcon and into the ship, C3-PO's head bumps one of the lights "attached" to the Falcon. As soon as he bumps it, it goes out.

Continuity

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) The ladder that Luke uses to climb into his cockpit when leaving Dagobah disappears.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) On Vader's Star Destroyer near the end of the movie, the rank insignia of the Imperial officers changes sides repeatedly. (This has been fixed on the 2004 DVD release.)

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) When Luke tries to use the force to take out the spaceship from the water and he can't, he goes behind a tree and puts on his jacket. When Yoda takes out the spaceship the jacket is clearly unzipped, and when Luke goes around the spaceship, it's zipped an tucked

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Just before Vader amputates Luke's hand, piece of shiny tape around the end of a recently cut pole changes to burn marks.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) As they are are walking through cloud city, Leia is between Han and Lando. As they come around a corner, Han and Lando have switched places.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) In a shot of Chewbacca, after the rebel soldiers are telling Princess Leia that "the shield doors must be closed", the shield doors can be seen moving soundlessly. In the next shot of Leia and the rebel soldiers, they aren't moving.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Towards the end of Luke's and Vader's duel, their lightsabers switch positions between shots - we see Luke parry against Vader's strike, with Luke's lightsaber pushing upwards against Vader's (towards Vader's body), but in subsequent shots we see Luke's lightsaber pushing downwards.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Han helps Leia in repairing the Falcon on the asteroid. They begin to kiss. When C3PO interrupts, we see a wide angle shot with the couple's arms around each other, but in the previous shot Leia's arms were not around Han's head.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Several times, during the escape from Cloud City, stormtroopers are shot, but no blast marks are left on their armor. In addition, the intenisty of the guns' blasters against the stormtroopers progressively decreases and increases during the episode.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) The sounds for lasers and lightsabers change throughout the movie, even with same weapon being used more than once in a scene. A good example is Han's blaster in the asteroid cave, which makes at least two completely different noises when firing.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) On Dagobah, when Luke is doing a handstand and levitating R2-D2, the long shots show Luke with arms fully extended but the closeups show him with bent elbows.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) When Yoda tells Luke to lift the X-wing from the swamp, he is standing on flat ground next to Luke, who is reclined. Luke stands up, looks down at Yoda, and walks away. Yoda then bows his head and raises the X-wing. As it recedes from the camera, Yoda is seen at the far L now standing on a low knoll. When Luke returns, he has to look up at Yoda, but Yoda never moved.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) As Han is about to be frozen he is handcuffed, two Ugnaughts seem to fidget with the cuffs but Han is clearly still cuffed in the shot where he is being lowered in to the freezing chamber. When he resurfaces in a frozen state his hands are not cuffed and appears to have "grasped" at the moment he was frozen.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) In the first wide shot of the Executor's bridge, there are black-uniformed officers in the left crewpit only. However, when Vader walks down the command walkway, we see the right crewpit, but it seems to be a reversed image of the left. In addition, it appears to be reused at the end of the film when Vader exits the bridge.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) The entrance to the Executor's bridge appears to vary between wide shots of the entire bridge and shots from within.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) When Luke is hanging from the roof of the Wampa's cave, he uses the Force to draw his light saber to him. When viewed from Luke's POV, the light saber is clearly buried in the snow, but when viewed from the other side, it is just as clearly sitting on top of the snow, unburied.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) When Vader contacts Ozzel and Piett on the viewscreen after the fleet drops out of hyperspace at Hoth, the lower bands of the officers' rank insignia are erroneously colored dark red rather than blue in the initial shot but correctly colored in the subsequent close-up view.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) During the duel on Cloud City, when Luke is sucked through the broken window, he's holding his lightsaber, but then is holding on to the bridge with both hands, however after he climbs up he has the lightsaber back, even though he didn't have a chance to put it anywhere before catching onto the bridge.

Crew or equipment visible

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Reflected in C-3PO's head as it travels down the conveyor belt in Cloud City, and also during the carbon-freezing scene.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) In the letterbox version, when the wampa's arm swings into frame to kill Luke's tauntaun, the end of the "glove" can be seen at the bottom left, as well as the top of the head of the crew member wearing it. Afterwards, when he is grabbed by the monster's arm, for a short time you can see the real arm of the person who is wearing the wampa arm.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) When the AT-AT that Luke destroys with a thermal detonator begins to fall over, a stick can be seen popping up through the ground from under the walker's left back leg to tip it over.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) (At 04:05) The purple sleeve of the crew's arm in the Wampa arm striking the tauntaun appears in the lower left corner of the screen.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) When Han, Leia, and Chewbacca go outside to explore the cave in the big asteroid, a tarp is visible on the left side of the screen through all the mist.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) After R2D2 gets pulled into the water on Dagobah, Luke pulls out his blaster. If you look in the upper left area of the screen you'll notice a crew member's silhouette run across in the background.

Factual errors

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Denis Lawson's name is misspelled as Dennis in the credits, and this was not fixed in the 1997 Special Edition or on the 2004 DVD release.

Miscellaneous

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Despite having his dialogue rerecorded by Ian McDiarmid for the DVD release of the film, Clive Revill is still credited as "Voice of Emperor" in the DVD version's credits.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Yoda speaks of The Force: "Life creates it, makes it grow. It's energy surrounds us and binds us. Luminous beings are we, Not this crude matter [pinching Luke's shoulder muscle]. You must feel the force around you. Here, between you and me... the tree... the rock.. everywhere." In Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace Qui-Gon mentions midichlorians as "constantly speaking to us [Force-sensitive beings such as Jedi] telling us the will of The Force." This does not mean that midi-chlorians are The Force; it's clear that they are much more like messengers of The Force.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) The colors of the different buttons on Darth Vader's chest plate vary between the movies. However, since time passes between each movie, it is not unthinkable that he has his life support equipment refurbished and upgraded on occasion.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) The Snow Speeder being able to destroy the AT after it is tripped is often said to be an error seen as the blasters are useless beforehand against the walkers. But from various sources (including Andrew Darling in the Q&A section in an early edition of the Official Star Wars Magazine) the explanation is that when the walker is tripped the armor is damaged and unable to deflect the power of the blasters. Also the pilots shoot at the much weaker neck area where no protection is offered.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) When Darth Vader uses the Force to throw things at Luke, one of them breaks the glass blowing Luke outside. This indicates Cloud City is pressurized. However, when the Millenium Falcon lands earlier, Lando is able to easily walk out the door, indicating there is equal pressure. However Luke and Vader are battling in what is very obviously an interior portion of the city which is far more likely to be pressurized than the exposed outer hatches.

Revealing mistakes

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) When the Snow Speeders are looking for Luke and Han, you can see the blue screen reflected on the angled side of the pilots goggles.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) When Chewbacca rescues Threepio from the Ugnaughts, you can see one of them adjusting his mask.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) When the Millennium Falcon is inside the worm and a tremor makes Princess Leia fall on Han Solo she says, "Captain, being held by you isn't quite enough to get me excited", Han Solo is mouthing her line.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) In the carbon-freezing room fight, after Luke forces Vader off the platform, Luke steps back after peering over the edge and turns off his light-saber (we hear the sound effect of the saber shutting down). As he walks back from the edge beyond sight of the camera, you can see the tip of the fighting prop saber swing into view momentarily as a stage hand swaps Luke's "fighting prop" (with shaft) for the "shut off" belt prop (without shaft) out of view of the camera.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) As Lando, Leia, R2, Chewie, and 3PO start boarding the Falcon to escape Bespin, you can see a blaster mark on the chest of one of the Stormtroopers firing at them from the doorway. Seconds later, Leia shoots the Stormtrooper in the exact spot and he falls down.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) When Luke is doing a handstand, lifting cases and Artoo, the wires holding his feet up are visible.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) During the Battle for Hoth, several rebel soldiers fall down without being hit.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) In the wide establishing shot of Luke riding a tauntaun, the tauntaun leaves no tracks in the snow.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) After being switched off on the Falcon, C-3PO can be seen breathing during Han and Leia's dialogue about Lando.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) When C-3PO interrupts Han and Leia's kiss on the Millennium Falcon, you can see parts of the Threepio costume break off and fall off at the elbow.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) During the escape on Cloud City, just after C3PO mentions the Millennium's hyperdrive (while R2 is plugged into the computer system), you see a stormtrooper's shot hit the wall. However, the black blast mark is there before the shot hits it.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) In Cloud City when Chewbacca leaves the others to find C3PO, his foot crushes one of the steps on a small set of stairs.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) During Darth Vader and Lukes light saber battle, Darth knocks Luke down a flight of stairs. Darth then leaps through the air and the wires attached to his back are visible.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) After having kicked Vader off the platform in the Carbon-freezing-chamber during the first part of their duel, Luke turns off his Lightsaber and jumps down to continue the fight. But when Luke jumps we can see him land and stand up in the shadows in the bottom-left corner off the screen. Yet we hear the sound of Luke hitting the ground a second later. This was probably an attempt to make Luke's fall sound longer than it actually was. Also we can see some wires wobble after Vader having hit the mattress outside the camera angle.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) While Vader is trying to tempt Luke to the dark side, the first part of his helmet can be seen moving on his head, when it is supposed to be magnetically sealed.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) When the Millennium Falcon enters the asteroid field, a shot shows the asteroids through the Falcon's cockpit window. One of the "asteroids" coming from the lower left is the Falcon itself.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Imperial officers wear their rank insignia badges on the left. However, when Vader asks Admiral Piett if the Falcon's hyperdrive was deactivated, the shot appears to be flipped - the officers' badges are on their right. This also happens near the end of the movie on Vader's Star Destroyer, the rank insignia of the Imperial officers changes sides repeatedly, indicating that the shots were flipped intermittently. (This has been fixed on the 2004 DVD release.)

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) When Lando opens Falcon's top hatch, bright light comes in, although it is dark outside. (This small mistake is fixed in the Special Edition.)

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) In the updated special edition TESB, as Han, Leia, Landa and Chewy are walking to the trap Vader has set, they walk past one of the new "visualisations" with a lift going up and a view of Bespin. Yet in the following shot, when you see Han holding his gun, the original browny white background is back in its place.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) During the battle on Hoth when Luke says "Alright I'm coming in" if you look on the black trim on the left side of the cockpit you can see the AT-AT through it. (Visible in the original theatrical version, partially-fixed on the Special-Edition VHS release and subsequent DVD releases to where the trim is less transparent).

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) As Leia and the others return to rescue Luke, Leia sends Lando to open the top hatch and he exits the cockpit. A shot or two later focuses on Leia at the controls. On the far left side of the screen you can see Lando's blue shirt as he is still standing in the cockpit.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Just before cutting off Luke's hand, Vader cuts through a piece of equipment on the bridge. As the top of the pipe falls off, both cut ends are wrapped in what appears to be duct tape, most likely to hold it in place for multiple takes. When the scene cuts to a new angle, the duct tape is gone.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) When Admiral Piett orders the tractor beam prepared, we get a shot of the crewpit. However, it is obviously the Avenger's crewpit, as the Executor's crewpits had the consoles in a linear pattern and the Avenger had consoles adjacent to the walls.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) When seeing Darth Vader in the dining room in Bespin, when Chewbacca roars at Vader, you can see two holes in Chewie's mouth that let Peter Mayhew breathe through the costume.

crazy credits

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) In the alternate DVD version of Empire Stikes Back, the Emperor is still credited as being voiced by Clive Revill, despite his performance being replaced by Ian McDiarmid.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) There are no opening credits in Empire Strikes Back.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983)

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) David Lynch was originally offered the chance to direct this episode of the series. He turned it down because he believed it was "Lucas' thing." He went on to direct Dune instead.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Director David Cronenberg was offered the chance to direct.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) The dual stripes painted on rebel A-wing fighters were originally blue, but were changed to red because the blue made it a problem when filming blue-screen effects.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) SFX crew claim to have included a "sneaker" as one of the spaceships in a complex dog-fight scene (see also trivia for Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back).

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Robert Watts, a co-producer of the film, doubles as the scout walker driver who is thrown out of the scout walker by Chewbacca. This role was written for General Veers, who was played by Julian Glover in Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back Since he looks nothing like Glover, however, Watts is credited as "Lieutenant Watts."

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Denis Lawson, who played Wedge Antilles in Star Wars and Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back plays Wedge in this film, despite the rumors to the contrary which were caused by his name being misspelt ("Dennis Lawson") in the credits of Star Wars. Intense debate on Usenet prompted Jarod Nash to write a letter to Lawson, asking for clarification. Lawson confirmed that he indeed played in all three movies, this being the only one that spells his name right.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) According to the documentary "Empire of Dreams", Steven Spielberg was George Lucas's first choice to direct, but Spielberg had to decline because he is a member of the Directors' Guild (Lucas dropped his Guild membership over disagreements about Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back. As a result, Lucas hired the relatively unknown (and at the time non-union) Welsh director Richard Marquand.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) According to a magazine interview with Irvin Kershner in May 2004, Kershner states that Richard Marquand didn't direct all of Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi, it was Kershner's assistant director and George Lucas who took over after the actors didn't respond very well to Richard Marquand. The relationship between Marquand and George Lucas was said to be bad. On the DVD commentary, however, George Lucas claims he worked quite well with Marquand.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Luke and Han's meeting in Jabba's palace is the first time that Harrison Ford and Mark Hamill have been on-screen together since saying their goodbyes in Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Jabba's sail barge was filmed in Yuma, Arizona. The film crew had problems avoiding the 35,000 dune buggy enthusiasts in the area. To preserve secrecy, the producers claimed to be making a horror film called "Blue Harvest" with the tagline "Horror beyond imagination", and even had caps and t-shirts made up for the crew. A chain-link fence and a 24-hour security service could not prevent die-hard fans from entering the set and sneaking some photographs.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) The main chamber of Jabba's palace is connected to the entrance by a short flight of steps. When filming the scene where R2-D2 enters the chamber it was discovered that the droid could not roll down the stairs. In the movie we see R2-D2 approaching the stairs, then the camera moves to the left past the steps and the droid re-enters the field of view, having been manually hauled down the stairs.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) The Endor shots were filmed near Crescent City, California. Forest work was especially hard on the Ewok actors. Production Assistant Ian Bryce arrived on the set one day to find a note from the Ewok actors saying that they had all had enough and they were on their way to the airport. Bryce tried to drive to the airport, but got a flat tire not far from the set. He found another car and was about to leave when the Ewoks' bus pulled up, and all the Ewok actors got off wearing "Revenge of the Ewok" t-shirts.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) The primitive warrior tribe at the end of this film was originally supposed to be a tribe of Wookiees. In pre-production, though, the decision was made to go to short creatures with short fur rather than very tall creatures with longer fur and, hence, the Ewoks were created (Ewok may very well have been created by rearranging the sounds in the word "Wookiee").

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) At the time, the climactic battle in outer space featured more optical effects in one scene than had ever been previously committed to film.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) The raspy, labored breathing heard from Darth Vader after he kills the Emperor was originally meant to be how his breathing sounded when he was first introduced in Star Wars. The sound of this labored breathing was kept and used for this film.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Several Ewok lines are in the Filipino (Tagalog) language. Most Ewok lines, however, were inspired by the Kalmuck language, spoken by nomadic tribes living in Central China.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) The film originally included a sandstorm scene that occurred after Han's rescue. It was cut because it was unnecessary and was hectic to shoot.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) The dancer that Jabba drops into the Rancor pit loses her top as she falls in.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Carrie Fisher's birthmark (near the small of her back) is visible in the desert scene where she turns her back to the camera to swing around a mounted laser gun.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) It is rumored that a different ending was shot, but discarded later on. It featured the (long awaited) marriage between Leia Organa and Han Solo. In the Star Wars "Expanded Universe" books, they go on to marry and raise a brood.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) At one point during the battle on Endor, Leia turns towards a Scout "Chicken" Walker and shoots a man who is either standing on or leaning out of the top. This man is rumored to be none other than the director, Richard Marquand, who also did the voice for the interrogator droid EV 9D9. His voice was run through a ring modulator to give the proper mechanic-sounding effect.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) In the familiar theatrical one-sheet poster advertising the film, forearms assumed to belong to Luke Skywalker are shown raising an ignited light-saber upward toward the starry sky. But the unidentified arms pictured are not those of actor Mark Hamill, they belong to George Lucas.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) According to Anthony Daniels, it only took him less than 10 minutes to put on the C-3P0 outfit, unlike the last two films were it took him two hours.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) One of the songs that the Ewoks sing sounds like: "Det luktar flingor här", which is Swedish for "It smells of cereal here." (In fact, that line's lyrics are supposedly, "G'noop dock fling oh ah.") Another song sounds identical to a song sung in Caveman.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Portions of the partially completed Death Star model resemble the San Francisco skyline.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Michael Carter was cast as Bib Fortuna in this movie after casting director Mary Selway saw him appearing in the play "The Streets of London" in 1981. It took over eight hours of make-up to first transform him into Jabba the Hutt's Twi'lek advisor. By the end of his five-week shoot, make-up artist Nick Dudman had streamlined the process down to 58 minutes. Removing the make-up took another 25 minutes.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) The Millenium Falcons used for this movie were either models or matte paintings. The full-sized mock up used for the other films was only used for the deleted sandstorm scenes and therefore doesn't make an appearance in this movie

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) In the part where Paploo was barely hanging onto the speeder bike, Paploo was played by stuntman Tony Cox. The crew propped the bike up vertically and filmed Cox dangling from the handlebars, then simply rotated the camera.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) The growls and sounds of the Rancor in Jabba's Palace were actually made by a dachsund.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Caroline Blakiston (Mon Mothma) had to re-record her dialog after it was discovered that her microphone had picked up the sound of pigeons roosting in the set ceiling.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Chris Parsons played C-3PO in 3 or 4 scenes, including the part where 3PO was carried on the chair by the Ewoks.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Peter Mayhew had a stunt double for the part of the Sarlacc fight in which the skiff jolted, causing Han Solo to hang upside down.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) The name Palpatine was based on the name Palantine in the film, Taxi Driver. It was changed to avoid legal problems.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Lawrence Kasdan and George Lucas initially wanted to include the "victory over the Empire" shots on the imperial city. However, they were unable to get a satisfactory name for the capital planet of the Empire. In May 1991, author Timothy Zahn wrote a Star Wars spin-off book, Heir to The Empire, and came out with the capital planet's name as Coruscant. Lucas was happy with the name and as the result, CG shots of victory celebration sequences of other cities, including Coruscant (where the statue collapsed) was included in the 1997 Special Edition.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) One of the words C-3PO uses to communicate with the Ewoks is "naboo" which is the name of Queen Amidala's planet in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Before filming began, it was discovered that all of Darth Vader's lightsaber props had either been lost or stolen. Thus, one of Luke Skywalker's "stunt" saber props from Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back had to be quickly cannibalized into a "Vader-esque" saber for this film.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) The design of Luke's new light saber is directly based on the one used by Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars. In fact, one of Obi-Wan's "stunt" saber props was reused in Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi as Luke's.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Stuntwoman Tracey Eddon wore a rubber replica of C-3PO for the tumble off of the sail barge. She then donned a metal bikini to swing with Mark Hamill's stunt double onto the escaping skiff.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Darth Vader's funeral pyre was added at the very last minute, long after principle photography and pick-ups had wrapped. The scene was thrown together and shot near the hills of Skywalker Ranch.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) The radiating shafts making up the floor of the second Death Star's reactor core are actually 1,500 fishing rods.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Unlike other Star Wars installments, Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi was shot and completed in less than one year. Photography was done within January 1982 - May 1982

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) When preparing to work on the special edition one of the ILM employees was talking to a friend and mentioned in passing that they were extending the musical number in Jabba's palace. The friend happened to be the brother of Femi Taylor, the dancer that played Oola (the slave girl/dancer who is fed to the Rancor) and suggested that they get in contact with her as she was in even better shape than she was when they originally shot the scene. They ended up using her, and the scene is a combination of footage that they already had and the new footage recorded 15 years later. Femi Taylor also has the distinction of being the only cast member from the original movies to reprise her role for the special edition.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) The deleted sandstorm scene involving all the actors was the first scene shot on the first day of shooting. This made Mark Hamill the only Star Wars actor to work the first full day of shooting on all three Star Wars movies.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Another reason for filming under the guise of nondescript horror movie title, "Blue Harvest" was partly to put off any snoopers and also because the production found that if they mentioned they were working on the next Star Wars film, suppliers would automatically ramp up their prices, assuming that money was no object for Lucasfilm.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) The word Ewok is never spoken in the movie, nor are the individuals (Wicket, Paploo, etc.) referred to by name.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) The biggest grossing film of 1983.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Darth Vader's footsteps were recorded in underground tunnels by the Golden Gate Bridge to help create an ominous effect.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) As the Californian forest location the production was using was due for logging, the special effects crew were allowed to knock trees down in the Battle of Endor.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) It took six people to work the full-sized animatronic of Jabba the Hutt.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) The film grossed more than $250 million from a $32 million budget in 1983, and then another $40 million in its 1997 re-release.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Before the Millenium Falcon leaves for the final battle with the Death Star, Han says, "I just got a funny feeling, like I'm not gonna see her again." This would seem to foreshadow the Falcon's demise in battle. But it doesn't. Researchers have looked into the matter from the first scripts of this movie, and have found that in all drafts of the script, Lando and the Falcon survive. All claims that the Falcon would not survive are urban legends, forgeries, or mistaken assumptions.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Endor is the name of a place in the Bible; it's a village found in Biblical Israel's territory of Isaachar, where king Saul went on the eve of his final battle with the Phillistines and came across "The Witch of Endor". It also the Elvish name for Middle-Earth in J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings".

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Originally, George Lucas was disapproving of Richard Marquand's choice in casting Ian McDiarmid as The Emperor. The choice eventually grew on Lucas, as he eventually went on to cast McDiarmid as the younger version of the same character in the next three episodes of the Saga.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Cinematographer Alan Hume had a falling-out with the producers late in production, mainly owing to the fact that he felt they were mistreating Richard Marquand. Hume was never officially sacked, but most of the photography in the last month of production was supervised by camera operator Alec Mills.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) For security reasons, when the film was sent to the lab, it was sent under the title "Blue Harvest". The title was inspired by the Dashiell Hammett story "Red Harvest", which was the inspiration for Yojimbo, directed by Akira Kurosawa, one of the favorite directors of George Lucas. When you go to www.blueharvest.com, you'll get the official Star Wars website.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) As seen in the theatrical trailers, Luke's new light saber had a blue laser blade instead of the green that appears in the finished film, as it had been in the first two movies. The blade was changed to green as being blue, it was difficult to make out against the sky during the attack on the sail barge scene.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Kenny Baker's Ewok character, Paploo, was supposed to find Princess Leia unconscious after the speeder bike sequence, but Baker got a case of food poisoning before the scene was going to be filmed, so Warwick Davis's character, Wicket, became the Ewok who finds Leia.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Harrison Ford suggested that Han Solo sacrifice his life to save his friends, but George Lucas disagreed with him.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Carrie Fisher complained about her costumes in the previous two movies. She said they were so long, you could not tell "she was a woman". Those complaints led to the skimpy outfit she wore as Jabba's prisoner. The costume became something of a running joke among the crew, because the metal framework that held the top together meant that the costume didn't move well with her. Since Fisher didn't like the industry standard solution of using double-sided tape, it became necessary before each take to have a wardrobe person check to ensure that her breasts were still snug inside the costume top (and several scenes had to be re-shot when "wardrobe malfunctions" occurred).

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) When sound designer Ben Burtt was working on the sound effects for the speeder bike chase, he tried to emulate Treg Brown's sound effect work on the Road Runner cartoons as closely as possible.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) In a personal letter to friend actor Henry Dibling, Lindsay Anderson said that a role in this movie was offered to him (a "Prince of Evil" role, in his own words). He turned it down because he was busy with his own movie, Britannia Hospital, by then.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) WILHELM SCREAM: As Luke slashes an enemy with his lightsaber and he falls into the Sarlacc pit. It can also be heard again a second time as Luke slashes another enemy into the pit soon after, but it is barely audible. Additionally, in the Special Edition, a Wilhelm can be heard during one of the huge celebration scenes, on Coruscant, after the Death Star is destroyed (an Imperial Stormtrooper is crowd surfing and the Wilhelm is heard as he passes to the right of the film frame; since this is a celebration scene rather than a fight scene, the Wilhelm was presumably included as a joke).

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) During the shot in which Salacius Crumb (the small, annoying, rat-like thing that sits with Jabba in his palace) is chewing off C-3P0's eye, Anthony Daniels had a panic attack while in the C-3P0 suit. While filming, he didn't actually say his lines (all his lines were dubbed in post-production anyway), but repeated "Get me up. Get me up." over and over. This take is the take used in the final film.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Sound designer Ben Burtt got the opportunity to operate the mike boom in the dialogue scene between Luke and Leia on Endor. He didn't know the entire scene would take almost 3 minutes to shoot, so he got very tired holding up the microphone, and nearly dropped it on Carrie Fisher's head.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Ian McDiarmid, a prolific stage actor, based his character's unusual voice on the Japanese method of using your stomach to project yourself. The result was a strange, guttural croak that Lucas decided was perfect for the character of Palpatine.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Elephants were used as inspiration for the All Terrain Armored Transporters' (AT-AT) characteristic walk.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) The point-of-view shots for the speeder bike sequence were achieved by having a camera operator walk through the forest at normal speed with a camera filming at one frame per second. When the footage was played back at twenty four frames per second, it gave the appearance of flying through the forest at high speeds.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) This is only the second film in the series to use American locations for live-action location filming.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) The roofs of the "Chicken Walkers" bear an uncanny resemblance to the roofs of the gun turrets on WWII German Tiger tanks-especially the small railings that these tanks had.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) The first appearance of the Death Star was originally supposed to be in this episode. Lucas changed the Death Star in this movie to the Death Star Two after having been forced to introduce the Death Star in Star Wars due to budget cuts imposed by the studio.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Endor scenes were filmed on a sound stage in London, and then on location in a Redwood forest. According to Warwick Davis, Lucas decided to spotlight six of the Ewoks, and to have the same British actors play those parts in England and America. All the others were replaced with Americans for the location shoot.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Originally to be titled "Revenge of the Jedi" but producers thought Jedis wouldn't seek revenge, being so righteous and all. Some posters and theater stand-ups were made early, but pulled very soon as the title changed names. Also Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan was originally to be called "Star Trek: The Revenge of Khan", but the title for that movie was changed to avoid confusion with this movie back when "Revenge of the Jedi" was being considered.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) In his book "Sculpting the Galaxy", Lorne Peterson reveals that all shots featuring the second Death Star are flipped horizontally. The original model was unfinished on the left side, while in the film it appears to be unfinished on the right.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) David Prowse has said that he did not take part in any of the lightsaber-fighting sequences. As with Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back, the film's sword master, Bob Anderson played Darth Vader during the duel sequence, wearing platform shoes and careful filming to make up for the height difference.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) The Huttese language spoken by Jabba the Hutt was inspired by the Incan language Quechua.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Nien Nunb, Lando's co-pilot, speaks a Kenyan dialect called Haya. According to sound designer Ben Burtt, the lines were delivered by Kipsang Rotich, a Kenyan student living in the US, and are actually correct Hayan translations of the English text. Audiences in Kenya were reportedly very thrilled to hear their language spoken in proper context.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) David Prowse only portrayed Darth Vader completely for the first half of the movie. In the second half of the movie, the character was played by Bob Anderson (stuntman) during the fight sequence, and Sebastian Shaw after the character is unmasked. James Earl Jones voiced the character throughout, with the exception of the unmasking scene.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) George Lucas had a script policy which was carried over to the novel-writing policy today: Any characters from the trilogy cannot be killed off by any means - which explained the reason he overruled Harrison Ford's suggestion of killing Han Solo off. However, he consented R.A. Salvatore's idea of killing Chewbacca off in the novel Vector Prime (set 21 years after Episode VI).

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Following the success of Boba Fett (appearing in comics and being a popular supporting character), George Lucas considered adding a shot of Boba Fett escaping the Sarlacc for the 2004 DVD release. Ultimately, he decided against it as he does not want viewers to be detracted from the intended storyline.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) David Prowse, who played Darth Vader's body in three films, was unaware of the planned unmasking scene in which a different actor, Sebastian Shaw, played Vader's face.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Ian McDiarmid (The Emperor) and David Prowse (Darth Vader) have never met. Vader was played by Bob Anderson for all of the camera shots in which Vader and the Emperor appeared at the same time.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Sydney Greenstreet was used as one of the models for Jabba the Hutt

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Whilst clambering over Jabba the Hutt, one of the high heels that Carrie Fisher was wearing accidentally punctured the latex casing and pierced Mike Edmonds who was operating the tail inside.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) George Lucas fired his friend and producer of the previous two Star Wars movies, Gary Kurtz, before production began (although some sources say he simply quit on his own) as Kurtz disagreed with Lucas' assertion that audiences didn't care for the story but for the spectacle.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) The inside of Jabba the Hutt's palace is deliberately styled to resemble the Mos Eisley cantina in the first film. George Lucas wanted to redo the scene but with a bigger budget and without having to rely on stock masks.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) The slithery noises made when Jabba the Hutt moves were created by sound-man Ben Burtt running his hands through a cheese casserole.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) In the DVD 2004 release, George Lucas explained the reason behind why Yoda told Luke that Darth Vader was his father. Lucas had consulted with a child psychologist during the making of the film. The psychologist said that unless it was unequivocally stated that Vader was Luke's father, moviegoers age 12 and under would dismiss Vader's claim to be Luke's father as a lie.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) There were several versions of Carrie Fisher's slave costume. One was made of metal form-fit to her body. Another was made of rubber and was used for stunt scenes because it was more comfortable.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Costume designer Aggie Guerard Rodgers says that the inspiration for Leia's slave outfit came from the artwork of Frank Frazetta, which often focused on the female form.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) The enhanced effects used for the Death Star explosions in this movie and "A New Hope" feature the "Praxis Wave," so named for its first use by Industrial Light and Magic in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country for the explosion of the Klingon moon, Praxis.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) When Steven Spielberg saw Paul Verhoeven's Soldier of Orange he was deeply impressed. He called Verhoeven to tell him he wanted to get him an American project. Years later Verhoeven heard that Spielberg wanted to bring him up to direct Return of the Jedi. To be sure of his talent, Spielberg organized a viewing of his latest feature film Spetters. Spielberg was shocked by the extremely sexual content and never called him again. Verhoeven later said that he thought Spielberg was afraid the Jedis would break their celibacy under his direction.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) The official poster of the film displays a disclaimer. "This film may be too intense for very young children."

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) This is the only one Star Wars movie where Darth Vader does not Force choke someone. A scene did exist in the initial cut that showed Vader Force choke an Imperial Officer in order to gain access to the Emperor's throne room. This scene was cut because George Lucas felt that this point had been made clearly enough in Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) The 1997 CD-ROM Star Wars: Behind the Magic confirms that the sequence showing the cremation of Vader's body/armor was directed by George Lucas himself.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) It's the first film to use THX. Boushh's (Leia in bounty hunter disguise) helmet has "1138" written on it. THX 1138 was Lucas' first feature film and is referenced many times in the series.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) This is the first Star Wars film to show a lightsaber combat something other than another lightsaber. Luke on the Sail Barge fights guards with staffs and blasters. In Star Wars and Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back, a lightsaber is seen only fighting another lightsaber. It should be noted that Obi-Wan's removal of Ponda Baba's arm does not count as a fight - but could be considered a combat between a lightsaber and another weapon.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Ian McDiarmid's character of Palpatine is not referred to by this name in the original trilogy. He is only called "The Emperor".

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) According to Ian McDiarmid, George Lucas originally casted him simply as the physical performance of the Emperor (similar to David Prowse as Darth Vader). This became evident to him when a producer told him that if he was able to get his voice close enough to Clive Revill's (who portrayed the Emperor's voice in Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back) Lucas would let him use his on-camera vocals in the final cut of the film. However, McDiarmid felt he could conduct a stronger, more wicked and demonic voice for the Emperor as opposed to Revill's more aristocratic Emperor. Lucas, and even Steven Spielberg, were so impressed with his take that it ended up becoming a signature trait of the character.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) The Ewok language was based on Tibetan.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Although Boba Fett is present in the previous installment, Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back, his name is not mentioned until this movie during the sail barge fight scene.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) The planet 'Sullust' is mentioned first in this episode (and later in other Star Wars saga items). That name is obtained from 'Sallust(ius)'; an important ancient Roman writer.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) The Jabba the Hutt puppet took Stuart Freeborn's team three months to build, cost $500,000 to make and weighed 2000lbs.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Extras comprising of 130 Imperials, 40 Ewoks, and a cast and crew of 150 were used in the scene where the rebels are rounded up outside of the shield bunker, just before the final battle starts.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Admiral Ackbar's backstory is that he was once the slave of Grand Moff Tarkin, as well as his personal pilot.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Death Star II was approximately 460% larger than the first one.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Before the special editions, this was the only movie of the original trilogy that mentioned the name Anakin.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) According to Star Wars canon, Luke had been to the Sarlacc pit before. During his adolescence, it was a popular dare among his friends to jump the Sarlacc pit in a low-flying sand-skimmer.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) From an engineering perspective, both Death Stars were poorly constructed because they did not have either safety or redundancy systems. When Wedge and Lando shot out the power regulator, the entire reactor exploded. A properly engineered power generator would have multiple backups and safety protocols to prevent such an occurrence.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Physicists have calculated that while the Death Star design is theoretically possible, its greatest weakness would be at its equatorial trench. Just as Earth bulges a bit at the equator, the Death Star's weight would be concentrated at the middle. The equatorial trench would receive the battle station's concentrated weight, and no substance exists which could take that much stress.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) The Death Star II's power source is called a Hypermatter Reactor. It is the standard energy source for all spacecraft in the Star Wars universe.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Admiral Ackbar's famous line 'It's a trap!' was originally scripted as 'It's a trick!'. The line was changed in post-production after a negative test screening.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Sir Alec Guinness filmed his cameo in just a day.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Marks the first time Luke addresses Kenobi as "Obi-Wan" and not "Ben".

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Moff Jerjerrod (Michael Pennington), the imperial officer who greets Darth Vader in the opening scene, originally had a much larger part in the story. In the beginning, he was to be nearly Force-choked for not allowing Darth Vader access to the Emperor, only to be spared when the Emperor finally allows Vader access. At the end, Jerjerrod would be receiving orders to use the Death Star to blow up Endor, should the Rebels succeed in disabling the shield. He reluctantly starts the firing procedure, but the Rebels beat him to it by blowing up the Death Star.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Listen very carefully as Darth Vader picks up the Emperor and throws him down the Death Star shaft. This is the only time the Jedi theme music plays over a shot of Vader, reflecting his return to the light side of the Force.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) In the movie, when Han and Leia are trapped by two troopers as they attempt to get access through to the shield generator, Han confesses his love for Leia by saying "I Love You" to which Leia responds with "I know". This is an exact reverse of a similar conversation that took place between the two in Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back when Han is about to be frozen.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Originally, the color of Luke's new lightsaber was blue, the same as the one he lost in ESB. Luke can even be seen wielding a blue lightsaber in early ROTJ trailers. However, when a scene of Luke assembling and activating his new saber was cut, Lucas thought the audience might not understand that Luke's ROTJ lightsaber was not the same one he lost on Cloud City. To avoid confusion, Lucas decided to change the color from blue to green, making it clear that Luke was using a new saber. As part of the Expanded Universe, Luke's original lightsaber, used by his father and given to him by Obi-Wan, was recovered (along with his severed hand) from Cloud City and was later wielded by a Luke clone. After the clone's death, Luke presented the saber to Mara Jade, his future wife.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) As part of the star Wars Expanded Universe lore, it is explained that Boba Fett actually survived the Sarlacc and went on to battle Han, Luke, etc. for many years following the events of ROTJ.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Fake scripts were distributed to some cast members that were considered likely to leak information to the media. Some of these phony story elements were indeed leaked, such as Lando being revealed as the "last hope" for the Jedi mentioned by Obi-Wan and Yoda in ESB.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) The first film to gross over $20 million in its opening weekend.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Ben Burtt: the Imperial officer in the bunker who says "Freeze!" and gets knocked into the generator room by a thrown satchel. When he falls over the edge, he attempts to emulate the Wilhelm scream, which he made famous.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) When Vader throws the Emperor into the shaft, the brief image of a skull can be seen superimposed on his visor.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) After Yoda's death for the first and only time Luke addresses Obi-Wan Kenobi as 'Obi-Wan' rather then 'Ben' as he did in the first two films.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) After appearing in this film, Wedge becomes the only X-wing pilot character (apart from Luke) who survives all three films.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) When Vader saves Skywalker by killing Palpatine, he fulfills the Jedi prophecy. He destroys the embodiment of the Dark Side and returns to the light. In doing so, he brings balance to the Force, just as the prophecy predicted.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Many viewers commented about Leia's inability to see the Force-Ghosts of Ben, Yoda, and most importantly her father, Anakin. In the Star Wars novel, 'Truce at Bakura' - which takes place immediately after "Return of the Jedi" - Anakin does appear to Leia, to ask for her forgiveness.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) The reason that Vader did not dissolve after death like Yoda is that he did not know how. The ability to do so and then become a Force-Ghost is only passed along from already existing Force-Ghosts. Obi-Wan learned it from Yoda, who in turn had learned from Qui-Gon Jinn. Yet he still appears as a Force-Ghost at the end.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) The blue energy seen after Palpatine's death is the essence of the Dark Side of the Force.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) In the most recent special edition, the force-ghost of Anakin Skywalker portrayed by Sebastian Shaw is replaced with one by Hayden Christensen from Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith. George Lucas felt the force-ghost should represent Anakin as he was before he succumbed to the Dark Side. Also, in "Sith", Anakin was horribly burned and lost both legs and his right hand, an aspect added after the original trilogy. Despite the explanation by Lucas, or perhaps because of it, many fans were outraged over the change and wrote angry letters to Lucas.

GOOFS:

Audio/visual unsynchronised

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) When Han is approaching Endor, he tells Chewie to "fly casual". The words are heard before he starts speaking.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) When Leia points the cannon at the deck, she runs to Luke who says, "Come on!" but his lips do not move.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) When Luke and Leia are on the speeder bikes, Luke says, "You take that one I'll take these two" telling Leia which enemy to attack. When he says this, his lips don't move with the sound at all.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) At the end, when an ewok hits some stormtroopers helmet to make music as if they were drums, we hear metallic sounds. Stormtroopers armor and helmet are clearly made out of plastic, so they can't produce any metallic sound like this.

Character error

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) During the scene in which Luke tells Leia that Vader is his father, he claims he can sense Vader on the planet. Vader's shuttle does not arrive on Endor until the next scene. This is possibly a white lie by Luke to convince Leia that he must go.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) During the Battle of Endor, Wedge sends a message to pilots in Red Squadron, yet the pilot who responds to the message is clearly an A-Wing pilot with Green Squadron.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) After C3PO gives himself up outside the bunker entrance in preparation for the Ewok ambush, the commander shouts "Bring those two down here". Both the current and subsequent shots reveal that he could only possibly have know that C3PO was there as R2D2 was completely out of view to the Imperial forces.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) During the Death Star 2 dogfight, a TIE interceptor is destroyed by "Grey Leader" of the Y Wing squadron. However, Wedge ("Red Leader") acknowledges the hit by saying "Good shot, Red 2".

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) In translated versions of the movie, Bib Fortuna still responds to Luke's order in English: "I will take you to Jabba now." Also, you can hear some of Jabba's lines in English: "Jedi mind trick."

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) When the Imperial troops on Endor have the rebel force captured, C-3PO walks into a clearing and makes himself known to them. The Imperial troop commander orders his men to "Go get those two," referring to C-3PO and R2D2, but only C-3PO was visible to the troops below.

Continuity

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) When Leia releases Han from the frozen carbonite, he falls forward to the ground, soiling his shirt and face. In the next shot he is clean. Fixed on DVD.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Han Solo falls off the skiff feet first in one shot, but head first in the next.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) When riding on the skiff, after Luke tells Han he used to live there, Han turns to Luke when he says, "You're going to die here, you know. Convenient." But in the very next shot he is facing away from Luke.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Lando can be seen wearing black gloves only when shown in close-up hanging onto the skiff over the Sarlacc pit.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) When Chewie is presented to Jabba in Jabba's palace, C-3PO has slime from Jabba on his chest, face and shoulder in one shot and is perfectly clean in the next. (Slime still on C-3PO on Special Edition version.)

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Lando's rank insignia swaps sides just before Han departs for the mission on the Forest Moon of Endor.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) When Luke leaps from one skiff to another, the long shot showing him making the jump shows the 'stunt saber' used. The saber is maybe 1/3 as long as the regular one, and the blade is not even glowing.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) When Luke is explaining to C-3PO about the "magic", R2-D2 is (not) tied up. [Letterboxed version only]

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) As C-3PO is trying to get his friends untied, Chewbacca pokes his head onto the set before he is cut loose. (Letterboxed version only?)

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Han's hair is shorter when he is released from the carbonite than when he was frozen.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) When the Emperor and Vader are trying to make Luke convert to the "Dark Side", Darth Vader's helmet is alternately clean/dusty between shots.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) When Wicket wakes up Leia in the woods, his spear is alternately on top of and underneath the bottom of his hood/bib, and this garment also changes length within this scene.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Just after landing on Endor, the rebels spot some storm troopers in the forest. You can see a close-up of Luke and Leia. The left side of Leia's helmet has a large round dent in it. During the speeder bike scene there is a shot of the left side of her helmet and there is no dent.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) The Executor is at the front of the Star Destroyer squadron during the combat scenes of the Battle of Endor, but is in the middle of the squadron in the view from Palpatine's tower.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) During Luke's message where he offers C3PO and R2D2 to Jabba the Hutt, when the scene switches to Jabba, then pans down to the small creature sitting in front of Jabba, the bubbles in Jabba's pipe and the smoke behind him can be seen floating down instead of up, indicating the scene was played backwards.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Before Leia is shot, the burn mark is visible on her poncho.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) As Boba Fett is aiming at him from behind, Luke can be seen throwing a kick at a henchman (with a "WW2 German style" helmet) that misses by a mile and has no effect. While Boba Fett flies by him after being hit by Han immediately afterwards, Luke throws yet another kick at the same henchman, missing again - yet this time the guy throws away his blaster and jumps overboard.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) When Vader is watching the Emperor attack Luke, his helmet is very dusty and what looks like streaks of finger marks can be seen on the helmet. In the next shot, just before Vader picks up the Emperor, his helmet has been cleaned and is shiny again.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) As Wedge's X-Wing enters the center of the Death Star, it is far in front of the Millennium Falcon. Lando instructs Wedge to take out the power regulator on the north. And as scene through the Falcon's cockpit, Wedge is still very far in front. Wedge copies back and says he is already on the way out. In the next scene, Wedge's X-Wing is just barely in front of the Falcon before swooping up to fire at the power regulator.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) When C3PO walks down the stairs entering Jabba's residence, R2D2 does not follow. The next moment R2D2 is following again downstairs.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) In the forest battle Chewbacca is with two Ewoks. They appear from behind a tree and Chewbacca's shoulder belt is over his left shoulder. When the scene shifts to them running towards a walker his belt is over his right shoulder.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) In Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back, just before Han Solo is encased in carbonite, the metal shackles on his wrists are removed, but the strap binding his upper arms is not removed. When released from the carbonite, his upper arms are no longer bound.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Despite the fact that Jerjerrod is commander of the Death Star and Piett is an Admiral, their rank insignia of 6 pips indicates that they are merely captains (as Piett was before his promotion in "The Empire Strikes Back". In "Star Wars" Tarkin, and in "Empire", Piett are wearing 12 pips. In all of "Jedi," no Imperial officer is seen wearing rank insignia with more than 6 pips.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) In the Sarlacc fight scene after Luke jumps off the plank he grabs the end of it by his right hand with his crown of head under it. In the next scene he is back in a higher position with his crown of head in line with the plank and both his hands grabbing it.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) During the speederbike chase, there are several shots where the support arms are visible holding the front of the bikes up.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) During the Rancor scene, when we get a full frontal shot of the beast as Luke tries to find a way out, you can see the puppeteer's blue-clothed arm operating the Rancor on its left side (right for the viewer). It isn't that easily noticeable, since it is dark like the surroundings, but its color makes it stand out.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) During the climactic light saber battle, when Darth Vader is searching for Luke in the lower section of the Emperor's throne room, you clearly see that all large structures in the area are suspended from the ceiling with a few support 'poles' holding up the platform that the Emperor's throne sits on. Luke seems to be hiding behind a wall that doesn't exist in the established geography/architecture of the sub-level. When Darth Vader taunts Luke enough to get him to attack, Luke jumps out and the wall is nowhere to be seen as it's just the open staircase behind him.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Endor is repeatedly referred to as the "Forest Moon" or "Sanctuary Moon" throughout the entire movie, yet in the scene when the Rebel Fleet comes out of hyperspace, you see Endor and the Death Star from a distance, but there appears to be no sign of the planet the Endor moon is orbiting. The novelization explains that the planet has been destroyed "of unknown cataclysm and disappeared into unknown realms."

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Following the line in Jabba's droid torture chamber, spoken by EV-9D9: "Splendid! We have been without an interpreter since our master got angry with our last protocol droid and disintegrated him," the camera cuts to a 21B Medic droid which is seen being disintegrated. This is not meant to be the actual protocol droid in question, just a demonstration of what happens to droids who displease Jabba.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) When Luke swings a blow at the Emperor in the Second Death Star, Vader blocks with his light-saber. So his blade should be between Luke's blade and the Emperor. In the 2004 DVD release, the red of Vader's light-saber is clearly visible on top of the blue of Luke's blade, so it looks more like Luke has just defended the Emperor from Vader. However, it could be that the lightsabres are interlocking.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) When Vader is searching for Luke in the Emperor's throne room, he is holding his ignited 'red blade' lightsaber in his right hand, and another unignited lightsaber handle in his left hand. This is because of a deleted scene where Luke throws his lightsaber out to Vader.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) When Jabba's sail barge explodes, the heroes ride away in one of the skiffs, while the other is left behind. It looks as if the remaining skiff is being held up by poles at the end of the craft. However, these poles are a decorative part of the fan-like projections on the rear of the skiff, not supports to hold it up.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Admiral Ackbar states that the Death Star is "orbiting" the moon of Endor. However, it is actually geostationary above the shield generator. It could be in geosynchronous orbit, which is still an orbit, but with a frequency equal to the orbited body's rotation.

Revealing mistakes

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Matte lines are visible around the Executor as it collides with the Death Star.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Just before Luke is brought before the Emperor, octagonal matte lines are visible around the Death Star. Noticable both in old and a new version.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) When the shield generator explodes, a piece of shrapnel can be seen exiting the left side of the screen and then reentering because it bounces of the inside of the building the miniature was housed in.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Right after Lando says, "Fighters coming in," at the beginning of the space battle, you can literally see TIE fighters in the background appearing out nowhere.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) When Luke cuts a handrail with his lightsaber, we can see the small bump hiding the pyro charge.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) In the speeder-bike chase sequence, several shots are flipped so that Luke's black glove changes repeatedly from his right hand (where it should be) to his left hand.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) When Vader throws his saber at Luke who is hiding on the catwalk in the Death Star, Vader's saber blade is coming out of the butt end of the hilt - not the proper blade end.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) When Luke jumps off his speeder bike during the chase, you can clearly see him bounce on a pad or cushion when he hits the ground.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) When Han throws the piece of equipment at the Imperial Officer (the one that says, "Freeze!") inside the Shield Generator, the officer begins his 'fall' (in actuality, he jumps) over the bars before it even comes close to him. Fixed on Special Edition and DVD version?

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) When Luke hits one of Jabba's guards into the monster pit, he disappears just as he gets to the monster's mouth.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) In the desert Jabba pulls Leia towards him telling her she will learn to appreciate him. Jabba's face is mirrored.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) At 01:07:50-52 the Ewoks are bowing down and one of the faces is seen from close up. You can clearly see holes in the mask revealing the wearers face where the eyes should be.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) In several scenes where the window behind the Emperor's throne is shown, the stars are moving indicating that the Death Star is rotating. However, the shadows cast by the window separators are not moving - they should be since they are from light outside the DS.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) When two ewoks got shot by the AT-ST, you can see the line on one of the costumes very clearly.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Max Rebo, the guy that looks like a blue elephant, is clearly made out of nylon.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) When Vader stands up after being kicked down the stairs, you can clearly see the shadow of the stunt light saber on the floor.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Just after Vader throws his light saber at Luke, he walks down some steps. The fighting props shadow is briefly visible on the right.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) During the Endor battle Leia is moving backwards towards the the shield generators door. As she is firing at the storm troopers one of the blaster shots appears to have not been animated, and instead a gas discharge can been seen coming from the blaster.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) (At 1:53:08) You can see Luke and Vader's shadows, but you can also see the shadows of their lightsaber blades, even though the blades give off light and shouldn't have shadows.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) There is one point in the climactic battle scene where a TIE fighter magically appears in the middle of the Falcon. The is because the old way of adding ships to a scene involved "cutouts." (This was fixed in the Special Edition.)

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Three disappearing TIE fighters flying past the Death Star after the battle on Endor's moon.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) When Luke and Han are meant to be thrown into the Sarlacc pit, they attack the guards and Luke hits one with his lightsaber. The man reacts as if he has been hit with something hard like a piece of wood, rather than a lightsaber, which would have sliced through him.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) The background behind the Imperial officer who says "freeze" is clearly visible through his torso. Also the stuntman jumps before being hit with the pack.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) When Luke and his party are dropped from the Ewoks' net they shortly thereafter have their weapons taken away by the Ewoks. If you look closely you can see the actor's very human fingers sticking through the glove of the Ewok that takes away Han's blaster.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Han's blaster prop was constructed by modifying a Mauser C96 pistol. During the climactic fight scene between the Rebels and stormtroopers on the moon's surface, the weapon's exposed hammer can be seen moving when Han pulls the trigger. Harrison Ford even seems to cock the hammer more than once.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) (At 1:22:50) When Vader lands on Endor, as he walks down the ramp of the shuttle to the platform, his head travels through the nose of the spacecraft.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Each time the camera returns to the Emperor's throne, the stars in the window behind it have reset to the same position.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) While Luke, Darth and the Emperor are talking on the death star, the depth of field in the stars doesn't match the camera depth. The window in the background of the shots is blurred due to depth but the stars are sharp.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Audio/visual unsynchronised When, after being hurled by Darth Vader, the Emperor falls into the shaft the same shout is heard when Luke falls into space after stepping off the gantry platform following having his hand cut off by Vader in Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back. (The scream heard by Luke was only inserted into the Special Edition version. It wasn't in the original, and was removed for the DVD release.)

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Character error During the Special Edition where young Anakin appears as a force ghost, he is wearing the Jedi robes Obi-Wan wears during Episodes IV, V, and VI. Anakin never wore these style robes before his conversion to Darth Vader, and are not worn by Obi-Wan until Episode IV.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Continuity After Leia tells Han that Luke is her brother and kisses him, she removes her hand twice from Han's neck. Also in the next shot, when Han kisses Leia back, his hand disappears from Leia's face.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Continuity After Vader saved Luke and the two are in the hanger, Luke is holding the fallen Vader. A tear is visible traveling down Luke's right cheek as the camera is zoomed out. In the next shot, is cheek is dry.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Continuity Luke removes only Vader's helmet and face mask during the unmasking, clearly he is still wearing the chin section of his mask (visible in every shot) yet right after Vader dies, Luke leans over him and the chin section is now missing.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Continuity When R2 is trying to open the back door, he is shot by a Stormtrooper and shorts out. Approximately twenty minutes later, when Death Star II blows up, R2 is functioning perfectly and shows no signs of damage.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Crew or equipment visible As Yoda is dying, look closely behind him and you can just see a small, white light bulb and light fixture recessed into the ceiling.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Revealing mistakes After Vader throws the Emperor down the shaft, he leans on the side and on the arm that had just had the hand cut off, you can see him bending his wrist, proving that his sleeve was just pulled over his hand.

crazy credits

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) There are no opening credits.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) This is the only Star Wars film in which Denis Lawson's first name is spelled correctly in the credits.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) To compensate for the longer credits, later versions of the film like the special edition and DVD release extend the piece of musical score that plays over the credits.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Sets were built only as high as the tops of the actors' heads and computer graphics filled in the rest. But Liam Neeson was so tall that he cost the set crew an extra $150,000 in construction.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) The design of Queen Amidala's starship, in which she escapes Naboo with Qui-Gonn and Obi-Wan, was inspired by the Lockheed Martin SR-71 "Blackbird" reconnaissance jet.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) The first film to be mixed and encoded in Dolby Digital Surround EX.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Director George Lucas has said that there are a couple of shots in the movie that were "filmed" on digital video instead of 35 mm film. He also said that he dares anyone to try and figure out which shots these were.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) In earlier drafts, the name of the planet where Queen Amidala comes from was called Utapau. This name was also used and abandoned in the early-1970s drafts of Star Wars, and was finally used for the sinkhole planet where Obi-Wan confronts General Grievous in Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Qui-Gon's description of Mos Espa is almost the same, if not the same word for word, as Obi-Wan's description of Mos Eisley in Star Wars.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Dates in Star Wars are based around the Battle of Yavin (in Star Wars):

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) George Lucas made a similar deal as he did in the original Star Wars. Both Lucas and Fox Studios agreed that he would forego his salary as a director provided he owns the entire negative of the final cut of the film as well as ancillary rights of all toys and commercial tie-ins.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) The core-plot of the movie came from George Lucas' first draft of Star Wars, which he wrote in 1975.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) The sound effect when Obi-Wan Kenobi's lightsaber is kicked down the reactor shaft towards the end of the movie, is the same sound effect heard when Luke Skywalker throws his lightsaber away in Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi when he tells the Emperor that he is a Jedi.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Tests were conducted to see if Yoda could be realized digitally but it was determined that the technology was not up to scratch. A CG model of Yoda was nevertheless created, but only used in one shot, a long shot incidentally, during the scene on Naboo near the end where Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda discuss Anakin's future.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) There is only one shot in the film to which no visual effects were added at all: the shot of the dioxis gas pouring out of the vent in the meeting room.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) During filming Ewan McGregor made lightsaber noises as he dueled. It was noted and corrected during post production.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) In a scene in the Skywalker home, George Lucas digitally altered Jake Lloyd's eyes to look in a different direction momentarily.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) The sound of the underwater monsters growling near the beginning of the film was made by the main sound technician's three-year-old daughter. The sound of her crying was recorded, and the frequency lowered to obtain the sound heard in the film.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) The sound of the hovering battle tanks used by the battle droids was created by running an electric razor around a metal salad bowl and then digitally lowering the pitch.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) In scenes where Padme and Queen Amidala appear together, Natalie Portman is Padme, while Keira Knightley is Sabe, one of the handmaidens disguised as the Queen.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) The "water" cascading over the falls in the Naboo capital city was actually salt.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) The Naboo Palace setting was also the ballroom set for the Frankenstein family mansion in Geneva used in Frankenstein. Celia Imrie appears in both movies.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) The sound of the "force field" in the lightsaber duel with Darth Maul began as a recording of the audio supervisor's neighbor's ceiling fan.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) In the original trilogy, lightsaber activations and deactivations happened off-screen most of the time to prevent the "jumps" that would occur when the film was stopped to allow the "activated" lightsaber props to be substituted for the deactivated handles. This no longer poses a problem and every activation/deactivation occurs on-screen in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) The parade music at the end of the film is melodically related to the Emperor's Theme from Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) When Palpatine lands at Naboo at the end of the film, he's accompanied by Senate Guards dressed in blue. The guards' costumes are similar to those of the red Emperor's guards seen in Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones, Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, and Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi, and are, in a way, predecessors to the later red guards.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Qui-Gon Jinn identifies the Queen's starship as a Nubian model J-327. "327" was the number of the landing bay where the Millennium Falcon landed on the first Death Star in Star Wars as well as the number of the landing platform in Cloud City in Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back. During the introduction of the pod racers, one of the pods is "327".

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) George Lucas reportedly wrote Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace in the same binder of yellow ruled paper in which he wrote the original Star Wars as well as American Graffiti.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) During the first week of the first trailer's release, many theatres reported up to 75% of their audiences paying full price for a movie, then walking out after the Star Wars: Episode I trailer was shown.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) The first Star Wars film to be released on DVD (more than a year after it's release on VHS).

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Before 'Samuel L Jackson' expressed his interest in joining the cast, Mace Windu was to be an animatronic character. This alien, was later identified as an 'Anx' and can be seen sitting in Watto's box during the pod race (as Graxol Kelvyyn) as well as during the senate scenes (as Senator Horox Ryyder).

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Adrian Dunbar was originally cast as Bail Organa and made a brief appearance in the senate sequence. When his performance was cut, the character's name was changed to Bail Antilles (mentioned on screen by Captain Panaka). A picture of Dunbar still appeared in two publications: The Ultimate Star Wars Episode I Sticker Book (as Senator Bail Organa) and Star Wars Episode I Who's Who (as Bail Antilles).

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) The Battle Droids were originally supposed to be as white as the Stormtroopers from the original trilogy. During pre production George Lucas decided to change them to beige.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) This is the only Star Wars picture in which Anthony Daniels does not provide the movements of C3P0. Instead they were performed by puppeteer Michael Lynch

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) C3P0 was originally only supposed to appear in scenes set in and around the slave quarters. During post production George Lucas decided to optically add the droid to several outside scenes.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) The Jedi Council set was too large to be saved, only the chairs were put in storage. For Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones and Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, backgrounds plates from Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace were reused.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) To fill all the Senate Pods, teams of extra's (mostly Lucasfilm employees) were filmed separately. Some of them were shot on digital video. Enough library footage of Senators was gathered to populate the Senate scenes of both Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones and Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) The Neimodians were originally to be computer generated creatures, but to save costs were changed into men wearing masks. Animatronic model designer John Coppinger quickly recycled animatronic masks from The Fifth Element to use as the basis for their facial movement.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Among the props in the background aboard the ship as the group leaves Tatooine are three Hewlett-Packard Inkjet cartridges.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Natalie Portman (Queen Amidala) missed the premiere party in New York because she had to go home to study for her high school final exams.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) The name used by the Queen while in disguise (and, later, after her term as Queen ends), "Padme", is the Sanskrit word for "lotus". "Yoda" is also derived from the Sanskrit word for "warrior".

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Theatres receiving the first trailer and posters were warned in writing to return them to the distributor (Twentieth Century Fox) on time or risk not receiving further media, and possibly the film itself. This was done to attempt to prevent the "black-market" sale of the incredibly popular trailer.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) In the German language version of the film, the collaborating Trade Federation leaders have a French accent, while in the Italian language version they have heavy Russian accents. They also have Russian accents in the Czech version, except for the Viceroy, who speaks fluent Czech for reasons unknown.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Anakin has two model ships on his bed in Tatooine. These are models of early designs considered for the Naboo Starfighters. In the documentaries on the DVD, we see these models being rejected by George Lucas.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Darth Maul has a total of ten horns on his head.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) At the time of the film's release, the producers ran a disinformation campaign to suggest that Natalie Portman played both Padme and The Queen at all times. In fact, they are not always the same person. For many sections of the film, notably those where The Queen is wearing the black outfit with the huge feather headdress, she is actually a decoy, played by Keira Knightley. The real queen, Portman, is actually disguised as a handmaiden. Various conflicting public statements make it extremely difficult to figure out who is who. Whole websites are devoted to figuring out which actress is playing which handmaiden or The Queen at any given point.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) George Lucas's very first draft of Star Wars began, "This is the story of Mace Windu, a revered Jedi-bendu of Opuchi who was related to Usby C.J. Thape, a padawan learner of the famed Jedi." Both the character of Mace Windu and the concept of padawan learners make their first appearance in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) While Liam Neeson did the majority of his own stunts, he did have three stunt doubles on hand to do everything else. Andrew Lawden doubled for Neeson for part of the Darth Maul duel on Tatooine, while Joss Gower played Qui-Gon for some shots in the main duel near the end. Rob Inch did everything else.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Andy Secombe based his vocal performance of Watto on Alec Guinness' performance as Fagin in Oliver Twist. So essentially, Anakin is passed from one Alec Guinness impersonator to another through the course of the film.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) George Lucas asked Lawrence Kasdan to write the script (and possibly for Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones and Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith as well), but he turned it down because he thought with Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi, Lucas's relationship to the movies had taken one step back and that he alone should take responsibility and make exactly the movie he wanted to make.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Frank Darabont was originally slated to be writing the script at one point, as was Carrie Fisher, who was said to be helping out as a script doctor.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) It appears that the other head of the podrace announcer is simply saying the same thing as the first head, but in Huttesse instead of English. This isn't so. Originally what the second head said was supposed to be subtitled, and the screenplay of the movie contains a translation of all of his dialogue.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Two Wookiees can be seen in the Galactic Senate meeting. For the first time in 21 years, Star Wars Wookiees were played by someone other than Peter Mayhew.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) After the first lap of the podrace, Watto and Sebulba speak Finnish saying, "Thank You" and "You're Welcome".

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Fox released the first trailer with strict instructions that it not be shown before a certain date. When a Canadian movie theatre accidentally showed it a day early, they lost the rights to show the movie.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Palpatine's line "There is no civility, there is only politics" is a corruption of part of the Jedi Code which consists of a negative assertion followed by a positive one. For example: "There is no fear, there is only calm. There is no death, there is only the Force."

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Star Wars Insider magazine publisher Dan Madsen is seen doing his bit as an extra grabbing the reins of a "Kaadu" at the celebration scene. He's short and wearing a light green outfit.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Ahmed Best, who supplies the voice of Jar Jar Binks, also appears as a Jedi Knight when the newly appointed Chancellor Palpatine arrives on Naboo.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Michael Angarano auditioned for the role of young Anakin, and was one of the three finalists along with Jake Lloyd, who won the role.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Colored Q-Tips were photographed on a miniature stadium set in order to provide the background spectators during the pod race sequence.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) The name "Jar Jar" was created by George Lucas's son.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) The Republic Cruiser seen at the beginning of the film is based on an early concept design for the Rebel Blockade Runner from Star Wars.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Ewan McGregor studied many of Alec Guinness' films, including Star Wars, to ensure accuracy in everything from his accent to pacing of his words.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) The word lightsaber is never used in the film. When Anakin talks to Qui-Gon he calls it a "laser sword".

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Every film in the series begins with a shot of a star field moving to a ship. This movie opens with a transport ship headed for a Trade Federation ship.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) The words chanted during the "Duel of the Fates" are from Robert Graves' poem "The White Goddess". "The White Goddess" is a translation of the original version, "Cad Goddeu" or "The Battle of Achren", an early Celtic work of great antiquity also known as "The Battle of the Trees," which was originally composed by Gwion and is found in the "Book of Taliesin", a Thirteenth Century Welsh manuscript . John Williams had the lines "Under the tongue root a fight most dread, and another raging, behind, in the head" translated into Sanskrit. The translation sung in the movie is as follows: "Korah Matah Korah Rahtahmah Korah Rahtamah Yoodhah Korah Korah Syahdho Rahtahmah Daanyah Korah Keelah Daanyah Nyohah Keelah Korah Rahtahmah Syadho Keelah Korah Rahtahmah Korah Daanyah Korah Rahtahmah Korah Daanyah Korah Rahtahmah Nyohah Keelah Korah Rahtahmah Syadho Keelah Korah Rahtahmah Korah Korah Matah Korah Rahtahmah Korah Daanyah Korah Rahtahmah Nyohah Keelah Korah Rahtahmah Syadho Keelah Korah Rahtahmah Korah"

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) The dress Amidala is wearing when she addresses the Senate is modeled after a Mongolian garment worn by nobility.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Toward the end of the scene where Qui-Gon, Anakin, Anakin's Mother, etc. are eating dinner, Anakin turns his head to the left... these are two shots of actor Jake Lloyd morphed together.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) EASTER EGG: If you highlight the THX logo in the Language Selection page on the DVD and press 1138 with the remote you will access a hidden blooper reel.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Of this film's 133 minute running time, only 10 to 15 minutes contain no special effects.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Ron Magid commented that "it's easier to spot the few hundred shots that don't feature any CG work at all than the nearly 2,000 shots that do."

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Earlier drafts of the script placed more emphasis on the character of Obi-Wan Kenobi. Originally he was already a fully trained Jedi by the start of the movie and also the only Jedi negotiator sent to Naboo at the start of the movie. In this same draft, the character of Qui-Gon Jinn was not introduced until the character's reached Coruscant, and that character was of the same age of Obi-Wan, not his mentor.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Kenneth Branagh was originally considered for the part of the younger Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) In the summer of 1998, the movie Godzilla was released amongst a whirlwind of media hype as part an ambitious studio campaign called "Size Does Matter", featuring massive signs and banners meant to emphasize the size of the monster. After its release, the movie was the subject of an intense backlash by both critics and audiences. The programmers of www.StarWars.com put up a temporary webpage with mocking the "Godzilla" campaign with a poster lettered with the green glow reading "Plot Does Matter - May 1999", in reference to Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) The two scenes recorded digitally were: Qui-Gon taking Anakin's blood sample and the promotion of Obi-Wan to the level of Jedi Knight.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Jabba the Hutt's full name is Jabba Desilijic Tiure.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) While referred to numerous times by other characters, Yoda is only clearly identified at the very end of the film. Mace Windu is never identified at all.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) WILHELM SCREAM: during the shooting in the hangar when a guard is shot

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) The movie was shipped to theaters as "The Doll House" to thwart piracy attempts.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) The look of the Trade Federation Battle Droids is partly inspired by African tribal sculpture. The appearance of the Naboo Star Fighters is loosely based upon a hairpin.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) EASTER EGG: In the "Options" menu, key in 11 enter 3 enter 8 enter you will see bloopers mostly of R2-D2 falling during various takes of the film.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Scenes of straightforward dialog maybe comprised of up to 6 layers of computer-composited imagery as the following example shows. In one scene, Natalie Portman's best take had been take seven while Jake Lloyd's was take one. The two takes were spliced together. However, Lloyd's mouth at the end of the scene is still gaped open, so the same segment from take fifteen (in which his mouth is closed) is patched in. Furthermore, when Portman appears to look down from Lloyd instead of up, those few seconds were run backwards, which unexpectedly caused steam in the background to rise in reverse. The problem was fixed by flipping the steam backwards. All these fixes resulted in a seamless scene. This technique prompted Liam Neeson, upon the film's release, to complain thus, "We are basically puppets. I don't think I can live with the inauthenticity of movies anymore."

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) In 1997, a fierce sandstorm destroyed several of the Tatooine sets in the desert outside Tozeur, Tunisia. Filming resumed two days later. George Lucas considered this a good omen, as the very same thing had happened during filming of the original Star Wars.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) When fully dressed and in make-up, Natalie Portman and Keira Knightley resembled each other so much, that even Knightley's mother Sharman Macdonald, who visited the set, had trouble identifying her own daughter.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Benicio Del Toro was originally set to play Darth Maul. Del Toro left the film after George Lucas took most of Maul's lines out of the film.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Liam Neeson convinced George Lucas to keep a scene where Qui-Gon Jinn puts his hand on Shmi Skywalker's shoulder. Lucas felt this might be out of character for the monk-like Jedi, but Neeson thought there should be an emotional connection between the characters. In an interview with Premiere magazine, Neeson defended his action, saying, "It may be 'Star Wars', but we've got to have something in there for the adults."

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) To create the sounds of the spectators during the pod race scene, sound designer Ben Burtt took a recorder to a San Francisco 49ers game and recorded the crowd's reactions.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Trace Beaulieu read for the role of Jar Jar Binks. He didn't get the role, but the movie would later be lampooned by his former Mystery Science Theater 3000 costars Michael J. Nelson and Kevin Murphy on RiffTrax.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Steven Spielberg visited the stage at London during set building when he was shooting Saving Private Ryan.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Darth Maul's "double-bladed" lightsaber design was borrowed from the 1996 comic book series "Tales of the Jedi: The Sith War".

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) George Lucas approached David Hare to write the screenplay and even co-direct the film. Lucas confessed he had reservations about working with the actors, and hoped that he could focus on the action while Hare focused on the acting. Hare declined.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) The name "Qui Gon" derives from an ancient Chinese system of alternative medicine called "Qigong". The "Jinn" part refers to the "Djinn" or genies of Arabian myth.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Two conflicting stories have come out of LucasFilm on the origin of the Nemoidians' name. One version says that the the aquatically-evolved aliens were named as an allusion to the fictional naval character, Capt. Nemo. According to other sources, however, the race was named for sci-fi icon Leonard Nimoy.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Phantom Menace was the name of a villain in the "Flash Gordon" comics. The same name used by NASA to refer to the fact that so few of their attempts to send a probe to Mars were successful, to the point that the missions seemed cursed.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) The galactic capitol planet of Coruscant was first mentioned in the first Expanded Universe tie-in novel "Heir To The Empire" by Timothy Zahn, set five years after Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) The Neimodian's commercial culture and heavy robes were based on ancient Chinese merchants.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) According to the script, the chance cube that Watto rolled with Qui-Gon was fixed to land on red. That's why he was so mad that Qui-Gon tampered with it to land on blue.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) The script explains that Watto is always flying is that he is crippled. Look closely, and you can see that one foot is longer than the other. He also talks out of the side of his mouth because the broken tusk slurs his words.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) According to Star Wars canon, Obi-Wan's hanging braid is a Jedi tradition common to all Padawan Learners. When his master feels that he has reached proper maturity, he cuts the braid with his lightsaber, signifying that the student is now a full Jedi Knight.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Sebulba's condemnation of Anakin being a slave is hypocritical. According to his backstory, Sebulba was once a slave himself.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Contrary to popular belief, the city where Qui-Gon discovers Anakin is not Mos Eisley, but another city called Mos Espa.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) George Lucas originally wanted Sammo Hung Kam-Bo to be the lightsaber fight choreographer.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Qui-Gon Jinn's name is not given in dialogue until 38 minutes into the film when he introduces himself to Shmi Skywalker (Pernilla August), whose first name is not actually mentioned until Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Almost 12 years after the film was released, Liam Neeson (Qui-Gon Jinn) and Pernilla August (Shmi Skywalker) both reprised their roles in _"Star Wars: The Clone Wars" (2008) {Overlords (#3.15)}" (2011)_. Neeson would later do so again in _"Star Wars: The Clone Wars" (2008) {Ghosts of Mortis (#3.17)}" (2011).

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Although Nute Gunray (Silas Carson) and Shmi Skywalker (Pernilla August) are both major supporting characters in the film, neither character's name is stated in dialogue until Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) The planet Naboo is heavily influenced by Italian Renaissance design and architecture, and the stadium where the pod race takes place is based upon Roman designs of the early Christian era.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Darth Maul only speaks a total of three lines.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) In both of his identities, Darth Sidious/Palpatine makes his first appearance as a hologram. This is in keeping with the original trilogy, when his first appearance was a holographic communication with Darth Vader in Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Jake Lloyd has said that he retired from acting because of the trauma he experienced after playing Anakin Skywalker. According to Lloyd, other children constantly teased him about the role. For example they would make lightsaber sounds whenever he walked by. Lloyd also said that the situation was made worse because, in his opinion, the film did not meet the fans' expectations. Despite this, Lloyd has reprised the role of Anakin in several video games and has appeared at Star Wars conventions/events.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) One of the first casting rumors for the alleged "Star Wars prequel", came from a science-fiction magazine called Starblazer. In their Summer 1985 issue, they published that Sybil Danning was to possibly portray the "sexy witch" that seduces Anakin Skywalker to the Dark Side. In 2012, Sybil confirmed on her Facebook page that the rumor was indeed true, and that many discussions took place at that time.

GOOFS:

Audio/visual unsynchronised

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) When Qui-Gon asks Obi-Wan to check Anakin's midichlorian count, Obi-Wan says that he has a count of "over twenty thousand", but if you watch his lips he is clearly saying "ten thousand".

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) When Anakin is being lifted up by Qui Gon Jinn after the pod race, he cheers "Mum, I did it! YEAH!" He says this before his mouth moves.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) When Darth Maul and Obi-Wan are fighting at the end of the film, Darth Maul hits Obi-Wan's light saber three times but there are four clashing sounds.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) As Anakin and Qui-Gon are heading to the Queen's ship, Anakin says, "Qui-Gon sir, wait, I'm tired." But his lips are moving only half the time.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) When Queen Amidala is explaining the attack plan and she is on the left side of the screen, her mouth is moving only half of the time.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Before Anakin shoots down the Destroyer Droids in the Theed hangar with the Naboo Starfighter, his mouth is shown moving before he says, "No, wait, here it is" while referring to the starfighter's laser cannon trigger.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Tey How says, "Sir, we're losing power. There is some problem with the main reactor... ." When Captain Dofine replies, "Impossible! I don't... .", his lips don't move until he is almost finished speaking. When they move, he appears to be saying "Impossible... ."

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) After the transport is destroyed in the hangar (near the beginning of the film) the scene cuts to Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon. The sound of their lightsabers being activated occurs before they even draw them from their belts.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) After Daultay Dofine's first line of dialogue ("I knew it! They're here to force a settlement!"), he and Rune Haako switch voices. For the rest of the film, Haako speaks with Dofine's voice, and vice versa.

Character error

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) After Darth Maul is chased into the large room with the chasm by Obi Wan and Qui Gon, he backs off to the edge and the camera goes back to a more distant angle. At that moment Darth Maul seems to almost stumble into the chasm and quickly catch himself again.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Queen Amidala slips just after they have taken the viceroy hostage in the throne room.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Sebulba could have won the race even though his pod was entangled with Anakin's, for Sebulba's bigger engines would have enabled him to win by a nose. In mitigation, there might be a rule about the pods having to be separate from each other.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) When leaving Mos Espa for good, Qui-Gon and Anakin are moving at a slow, casual pace. But in their very next scene, they are running frantically toward the ship as if they know they are being followed. This is due to the removal of a scene in the film in which the twosome discovers they are being spied on by one of Darth Maul's probes.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) During the podrace, the top of R2-D2's head becomes briefly detached from his body.

Continuity

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) The shadows that the battle-droids leave on the ground when escorting the captured Queen across the courtyard do not match the shot from above just before the Jedi Knights leap down to rescue them.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) In the final fight scene with Obi-Wan and Darth Maul, Obi-Wan leaps up from the hole, and grabs the lightsaber with his left hand. As he twists above Darth Maul's head, the lightsaber is in his right hand, when he lands, it's in his left hand again.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) When the flag-bearers walk across the starting grid of the Boonta Eve Podrace, the position of each person and flag changes between shots.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) During the final fight between Obi Wan and Darth Maul, Maul force pushes Obi Wan into the pit. For the wide shot Maul is seen using his left hand to do this, but for the close up he is using his right hand.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) At the beginning of the Battle of Naboo, the Gungans create a shield around themselves using a number of shield generators on the backs of their mounted creatures. In a later scene, only one of these creatures has a shield generator on its back.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Obi Wan's Padawan braid moves from the left side of his head to the right side and back throughout the film.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Anakin takes C3PO's eye in his right hand. Transfers it to the left hand. Starts to put the eye on its place. In the very next shot he puts the eye there, but with the right hand.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) When Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan are talking to Jar Jar when they first arrive on Naboo, Obi-Wan's hair is wet. When Jar Jar spins around and Obi-Wan is forced to duck, his hair suddenly becomes dry. In the next shot it is wet again.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Several times, during the fight scene in the Theed Hangar, the Droidekas are shown shooting, but no lasers are coming out of their guns.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Obi-Wan's hair length and style changes between shots, starting when Amidala returns from Coruscant. It goes from spiky to smooth and back once or twice.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) During the fight over and around the droid control ship, Anakin says to R2D2, "I'll try spinning, that's a good trick." Anakin is seen to turn the flight controls to the left, but his craft spins to his right. In an earlier scene (right after the auto pilot is disconnected) Anakin says, "Let's go left", turns the controls to the left, and the scene tilts to Anakin's left, showing that the controls are working backwards in one of the two scenes.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) During the pod race, Anakin's face switches between being dirty and being clean several times.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) When Jar Jar activates the Pit Droid in Watto's shop he knocks over a protocol droid and some other junk. A moment later the droid is upright again.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Upon the Queen's landing to meet the Senate we see loads of air-traffic, yet when they land, there's no reflection of any of the ships flying overhead on the shiny ship itself.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Anakin's shadow changes direction during his final goodbye to his mother.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Before the start of the pod race, Sebulba breaks the stabilizer on Anakin's pod. In the following scene, you can clearly see the stabilizer over Sebulba's right shoulder, unbroken.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) During the pod racing scene, Shmi Skywalker watches Anakin's progress using a personal view screen with handles. In the close-up, she is holding a view screen without handles.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) R2-D2 plugs a hose into the ship to get the shield generator working again when the group is running the blockade to get off of Naboo, but in the next shot it is gone.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) R2-D2 is briefly and unaccountably missing from the back of the Queen's ship as they run the blockade.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) When Anakin and Padme arrive at the pod racer hanger, Anakin is taller in the close-up shots, and Padme's hair is noticeably a little different. The close-up shots were done almost a year after the principal photography.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) When Anakin is in the hangar begging Qui-Gon to let him come with them, a yellow stick with a ball on top disappears from the background.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) When Qui-Gon and Obi Wan are waiting for Jar Jar to get help from the Gungans we see shadows and light on their faces from the leaves on the trees. These shadows move constantly. In the close upos, they are entirely in shadow and there is no light showing through.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) After Obi-Wan cuts Darth Maul's lightsaber in half Maul keeps fighting with the half in his left hand, yet at no point in the rest of the battle is the other half anywhere to be seen.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) In the scene where Qui Gon is cutting through the door aboard the trade federation ship, two destroyer droids roll along the corridor towards them. Both droids are seen to deploy blue energy shields as they unfold; however, when Obi-Wan makes his comment about them having said shields, the camera cuts back to a brief shot of the two droids, during which the droid nearest the camera is seen re-deploying its shield.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) When Senator Palpatine and Queen Amidala are on Coruscant discussing their options regarding the senate, Palpatine is wearing a blue outfit. As he walks around the room, the same outfit changes from blue to brown then back to blue as he finishes the conversation.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) After, Darth Maul is revealed when the doors open, Padme says, "we'll take the long way." The group is then ambushed by droidekas. In a wide shot, showing the battle with the droidekas, the door that has just opened revealing Darth Maul is closed and the two Jedi, Qui-Gon and Obi Wan are nowhere to be seen. However, when the shot changes, we can see the view of Padme and her team struggling from behind Qui-Gon and Obi Wan.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Queen Amidala has a small gun in the attack into the palace but this becomes a larger different gun after they've climbed up the second floor through the balcony.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) When Obi-Wan is watching Darth Maul from behind the last barricade, his Padawan braid switches from behind his ear to resting on his tunic and back

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) During the final lightsaber battle, the red force fields can be regularly seen opening and closing before Obi-Wan emerges from them. After he does, they cannot be seen or heard opening or closing again.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) During the attack on the Trade Federation's control ship, One of the pilots says, "Look! One of ours out of the main hold!" before Anakin's ship is even close to leaving the hangar.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) In the Boardroom in Otoh Gunga, as Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon turn to leave, you can see Obi-Wan's lapel mic just inside his tunic.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) The droid army is entering the city it cuts to the scene where the Queen is looking out of the window in her palace. As it shows her approach the window you can clearly see a large ILM (Industrial Light & Magic) sign written in what looks like red spray paint at the bottom right hand corner of the screen.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) When Darth Maul takes his motorcycle after finding the missing Jedi, you can see a pair of tire tracks from a car or truck.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) When Queen Amidala is standing before a big window (she watches the Trade Federation enter the city) she is wearing a dress with lights at the bottom. Behind her the power cable of those bulbs is visible.

Factual errors

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Keira Knightley's name is misspelled as Kiera in the end credits.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) When the engines start turning on Anakin's pod racer, they are turning the wrong direction. They should be turning so that the fan blades will force air into the engine, but the direction they are turning, air will blow out the front of the engine.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) As the Jedi run from the droidekas, they disappear (or at least become very faint) briefly. This is a deliberate effect to indicate the speed of their departure.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) When listing candidates for Chancellor, Captain Panaka includes "Bail Antilles of Alderaan." Some viewers think he means Bail Organa of Alderaan (played by Jimmy Smits in later movies). However, there is nothing unusual about two men from the same province having the same first name. The script explains that these are indeed two different characters.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Many naturalists complained that Watto's wings weren't big enough to lift his body in flight. George Lucas explains that Watto's digestive system filled his rotund belly with helium, making Watto a blimp, not a bird.

Revealing mistakes

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) When Darth Maul is slashing at Obi-Wan in the pit, sparks form from areas of the pit wall Maul isn't even slashing.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) As Qui-Gon, Padme, and R2 enter Anakin Skywalker's home Qui-gon introduces himself to Anakin's mother. As Qui-Gon says, "I'm Qui-Gon Jinn", Padme mouths these same words. This might not be visible in the pan and scan version of the film.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) There is a support bar visible betweens R2-D2's legs before the gang enters Watto's junk shop

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) When Qui-Gon and Jar Jar are eating the meal at Anakin's house, his mother goes around the table pouring water into everyone's cups. She pretends to pour it into Jar Jar's computer-generated cup, and it sounds as if she does, but no computer-generated water has been added into the scene.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) When Anakin is sitting in the Naboo Starfighter cockpit, the text on the side of the cockpit switches back/forth between scenes, revealing the use of mirrored images.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) After R2-D2 repairs the shield generator, there is a scene where Padme is cleaning up the droid and talking to Anakin. In the last shot of this scene, the film is reversed (mirror image) - evident from R2-D2's features.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) As they enter the hangar on Naboo to prepare for their escape, only three members of the party are reflected in the fighter above them, the others are not.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) When Darths Maul and Sidious are conversing on Coruscant ("At last we will have revenge!"), Maul's neck is visible beneath his cloak, and is flesh-toned. Everywhere else in the film, his neck is black.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) When Anakin and Jar Jar are readying the podracer, Jar Jar inserts his hands into the metal turbine blades, but the blades can briefly be seen to bend like foam or rubber.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) When Qui-Gon delivers the hyperdrive, Obi-Wan's braid is on the left side and not the right. Evidently, this was done deliberately with the intention that the shot would later be flopped, but for some reason it never was, leaving the braid on the wrong side.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Same point-of-view footage of the crowd is used twice during the pod race - the characters on the steps make the exact same moves each time.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Part of Darth Maul's lightsaber (his left side) disappears for a few frames during the big lightsaber battle.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) When Sebulba is on the verge of running down Anakin during the pod race, there is an over the shoulder shot clearly showing that Sebulba's pod is unmanned. An acknowledged animation error.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) When Amidala's groups and the two Jedi approach the gate that leads to the hangar, while slaughtering battle droids, a laser can be seen hitting Obi-Wan, but he doesn't seems to feel it.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Senator Palpatine and Viceroy Nute Gunray are about the same height, and Darth Maul taller than both. But in one scene while Nute Gunray is sitting and Darth Maul is standing next to him, Darth Maul appears much shorter than usual.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Continuity When Darth Maul is killed, he is holding his lightsaber as he falls. When we switch shots to see him falling, he has no lightsaber and we do not see one falling through the air.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Continuity In the final scene of the movie, you can see a girl in a peach colored dress standing behind R2-D2 and Anakin. A few shots later, she is seen in the foreground of a shot of children throwing confetti down onto the parade. A few shots later she is back behind R2-D2, Anakin, and the Queen.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Continuity After Obi-Wan kills Darth Maul, the reflection of his lightsaber blade does not appear in the floor where it did appear before.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Continuity After Obi-Wan kills Darth Maul, Qui-Gon's body can be seen with his right arm over his chest. When Obi-Wan rushes to his side, however, the arm can be seen resting at Qui-Gon's side.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Continuity After the Trade Federation is defeated, Padme's decoy is again playing the role of Queen Amidala when she is speaking to the Viceroy after their defeat, even after Padme revealed herself to the Viceroy as the real Queen Amidala in the throne room.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Continuity The opening crawl describes Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan as Jedi knights, but at the end, Yoda promotes Obi-Wan to the rank of Jedi knight, implying that he wasn't already one.

crazy credits

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Revealing mistakes When Darth Maul is killed and seen hurtling towards the bottom of the melting pit, you can clearly see his digital form created for this feat.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) The opening logo for 20th Century Fox is static (to match the opening of Episodes 4, 5 and 6), instead of the animated 3-D logo used in Fox films at the time. The Fox logo also fades out halfway through the fanfare, and the final flourish is played over the Lucasfilm logo. Modern Fox films keep the company logo on-screen throughout the entire fanfare.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002)

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) Actors auditioning for the part of Anakin included Ryan Phillippe, Paul Walker, Colin Hanks and Jonathan Brandis. In the end Hayden Christensen got the part, primarily because he and Natalie Portman "looked good together".

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) Australian actors Graeme Blundell, Trisha Noble and Claudia Karvan were cast as Padmé's parents and sister and were interviewed by Ahmed Best for the 'On Location' web-series. Blundell was even involved in the location shoot in Italy for one scene. However, all of their scenes, which also included young Keira Wingate and Hayley Mooy playing Karvan's daughters, ended up being cut. Most of the footage can be seen as an extra feature on the DVD. Despite of their absence in Attack of the Clones, the entire Naberrie family is still visible at the very end of Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith and are all credited as such.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) Like Ewan McGregor did in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, Hayden Christensen made "lightsaber noises" the first time he was handed one in rehearsal. After chuckling at the young star's antics, George Lucas informed him that they probably had people in Sound Effects who could do a better job in post production.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) The Tatooine garage in which Luke cleaned the droids in Star Wars was rebuilt for this movie, but not completely: while the foreground and background were complete sets in the original film, only the foreground was rebuilt for Episode II; the background is digital.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) This was the first film to have an "on-location" film shown once a week to document the shooting process. After the success of this feature, other films adopted the same process.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) Shot onto digital video using a new 24-frame High-Definition Progressive Scan camera, developed by Sony and Panavision Inc. The cameras worked flawlessly even in temperatures of 125°F (51°C).

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) Was shot on exactly the same stages as Moulin Rouge!, also starring Ewan McGregor.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) C-3PO Anthony Daniels was originally to have made his first appearance still in skeletal form. In post-production, George Lucas decided to have C-3PO be complete throughout the film.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) While on location in Tunisia, George Lucas made one shot intended for Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith of Obi-Wan delivering baby Luke to the Lars homestead. He claimed he would not be returning to Tunisia, and if he needed another shot, he wouldn't get it. Since Ewan McGregor did not participate in the Tunisia shoot, a wide shot of a double was filmed handing over a doll to Owen Lars (Joel Edgerton). However, during production of "Revenge of the Sith" it was decided that Obi-Wan should hand the infant to Beru (Bonnie Piesse) instead. All three actors were filmed separately in front of a green-screen and the original shot was ultimately not used.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) The librarian at the Jedi Archives says "If an item doesn't appear in our records, it does not exist!" This is a variation of the slogan of the Pacific Bell Yellow Pages.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) The Jedi Archives are modeled on the Trinity College library in Dublin, Ireland.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) With an estimated budget of $120 million, this is the most expensively-made of all the Star Wars films

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) Instead of creating a new C-3PO suit for the film, the designers repainted and "aged" one used in the original trilogy.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) There is no mystical significance in the color of Mace Windu's light saber. Samuel L. Jackson, after a jokey conversation with stunt coordinator Nick Gillard, asked George Lucas if he could have a purple light saber to match his favorite color, and George Lucas agreed. In an interview on UK TV, Jackson said he "thought it would be cool".

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) This is the first "Star Wars" film in which Yoda (Frank Oz) is entirely computer-generated. After tests to see if a CG Yoda was possible failed during pre-production of Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, Rob Coleman and his team came back three years later and presented a reel to George Lucas showing him a CG Yoda performing the scene in Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back where he explains the nature of the Force to Luke Skywalker. Lucas was impressed and decided the technology was right for a CG Yoda.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) According to visual-effects supervisor John Knoll, a big cow-like creature that Anakin and Padmé frolic around in the fields with, can be seen in the asteroid belt that Obi-Wan flies through. One asteroid has legs.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) When Obi-Wan (Ewan McGregor) and Anakin (Hayden Christensen) enter the sports bar on Coruscant to search for the assassin Zam Wesell (Leeanna Walsman), several actors and crew members from the "Star Wars" movies can be spotted, including Ahmed Best, (voice of Jar Jar Binks) and Anthony Daniels (C-3P0). Also visible in the crowd are R2D2 handler Don Bies and his Droid team consisting of Zeynep Selcuk, Justin Dix and Trevor Tighe.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) The final shot of Padmé and Anakin looking out on the lake in Naboo with R2-D2 and C-3PO to their right is a reproduction of the final shot of Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back, where Luke and Leia are looking out into space from the ship with R2-D2 and C-3PO to their right.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) In the arena, Senator Amidala's gun makes the distinctive sound of a .44 Magnum, a reference to this sound accidentally being left in the sound mix when Princess Leia shoots over the chasm in the special edition of Star Wars

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) The only Star Wars film that was not the top box-office earner the year of its release.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) Just before Anakin goes to search for his mother on Tatooine, he has a conversation with Senator Amidala. The camera pans to their shadows as they talk, and Anakin's resembles that of Darth Vader. According to the DVD commentary, the Vader-like shadow that Anakin casts was not a special effect but a coincidence.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) The yellow speeder that Anakin and Obi-Wan use while chasing Zam Wesell appears to be inspired by the yellow '32 Ford coupe from George Lucas' American Graffiti.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) George Lucas's daughter Katie Lucas appears as a purple Twi'lek in the nightclub scene. Her older sister Amanda Lucas can also be spotted in the background when Obi-Wan and Anakin discuss the 'changeling' Youngest sibling Jett Lucas appears as a young Jedi in the Jedi Archive scene with Obi Wan Kenobi and the librarian Jocasta Nu.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) Every movie in the series closes with a scene with no dialogue. This movie ends with a ceremony with the main characters looking at one another, then out over the lake.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) During the final battle nearly 90% of the music heard is temp-tracked from John Williams' score of Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace. This is most likely because like the Droid factory sequence, the Clone battle was a late addition to the film.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) The Separatist Droid army is made up of Trade Federation Battle Droids and Droidekas first seen in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace as well as the introduction of rapid-firing Super Battle Droids. The large Homing Spider Droids and the Dwarf Spider Droids belong to the Commerce Guild, while the missile-firing Hailfire Battle Droids belong to the IG Banking Clan.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) The character Aayla Secura, played by Amy Allen, was not created by George Lucas. Aayla Secura first appeared in the nineteenth issue of Dark Horse Comics' "Star Wars: Republic" series (part one of "Star Wars: Twilight"). Lucas was so impressed with the character that he decided to have her in the film.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) Jar Jar Binks, standing in for Senator Amidala, puts forth the motion that gives Palpatine supreme powers. This means that Jar Jar, the most hated character in the Star Wars canon, is indirectly responsible for the fall of the Old Republic and the near-annihilation of the Jedi order.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) The Republic flying gunships used in the climactic battle were LAAT/I used to transport troops from the assault ships while larger LAAT/C gunships carried AT-TE Armored Walkers. The Republic artillery was SPHA-T-class used to bring down a Trade Federation core ship.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) Christopher Lee did not do all his own stunt work, being 78 years old and all, although he was able to do most of his own sword work during the climactic light saber duels. At times, they used a stunt man whose face was replaced digitally with Lee's own.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) According to Rick McCallum, a scene was shot with Obi-Wan and Amidala swinging from one area to another, much like Luke and Leia in Star Wars, but the scene was cut.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) When Jango Fett gets into his ship after his fight with Obi-Wan, he bangs his head on the partially open door. This was intentional, and is a reference to a famous goof from Star Wars, where a storm trooper accidentally bangs his head on a door.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) Some of the stunt work was computer generated and was performed by "digital stand-ins".

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) The CG models of the Republic attack gunships had to be extremely detailed to withstand viewer scrutiny during closeups. ILM even crafted a version with a fully decked out interior, which was used as the background for new bluescreen elements of the actors aboard the gunships shot during additional photography in London. The real life gunship interior sets were left in Sydney, so these new shots required digital gunship interiors.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) To efficiently deliver a realistic explosion for the gunship that gets shot out of the sky, ILM built a mandrill of the vessel. A mandrill is an all-blue practical miniature. It was rigged with pyrotechnics and blown up. The properly shaped explosion was digitally extracted, interacting with the properly shaped wreckage, and digital artists replaced the blue gunship with the computer-generated one.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) Many of the explosions of the final ground battle were real ones rather than digital fireballs. They were shot in the backlot at ILM. Explosions were such in demand that the compositors dipped into the library of explosions built for the Naboo plains battle from Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace to fill out the shots.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) Though the Republic AT-TE walkers were computer-generated, at least one 1/10th scale miniature was constructed for pyrotechnic purposes. The walker that gets blown apart by an armor-busting Hailfire missile was first shot as a miniature against greenscreen. This provided valuable reference for the animators, though the scale of the resulting miniature explosion proved unusable as a final element. Also, the miniature was shot with a static camera while the finished shot had a swooping camera move that followed the rocket: a CG walker was needed to properly move with the perspective of the shot.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) A number of subtle visual clues were incorporated into the design of the shots to help audiences keep track of who's who. The good guys - the Republic Clones Troopers - always move from screen right to screen left, while the Separatist Battle Droids moved from screen left to screen right. The sun is behind the clones, resulting in a gloomier sky behind the Separatists. Finally, the missile contrails were color-coded to denote allegiance: the Republic rockets leave clean white trails, while the villains launch missiles that leave noxious black/purplish exhaust.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) To efficiently communicate the damage sustained by the Trade Federation core ship blasted out of the sky, two versions of the computer-generated vessel were made. One bore its standard paint job. The other was the "distressed" version, with carbon scoring damage painted across the surface. Both were animated performing the same movement, and the compositors used animated mattes to gradually reveal the damaged ship from "behind" the intact one, covering the transitions with composited fire and explosion effects.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) Most of the clone troopers wear plain white armor; some of the more senior troops' armor has added colored trim on the helmet and arms. The colors denote rank as follows: Green = sergeants, Blue = lieutenants, Red = captains, Yellow = commanders (the Jedi serve as the Clones' generals). Note that pilots also wear yellow trim, but their armor design differs from other Clones.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) Cans (containing reels) were shipped to theaters under the code name "Cue Ball".

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) The shot of Anakin and Padme walking and talking about her serving as senator when they first arrive on Naboo is shot in the same way and outside the same building as the last conversation between General Allenby and Dryden before the intermission of Lawrence of Arabia.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) Since the FX model of Boba Fett's Slave I was on loan to the Smithsonian at the time of filming, a computer-generated version of the ship (with a different color scheme) had to be created.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) The design for Anakin's lightsaber was based on Darth Vader's lightsaber prop as seen in Star Wars. Count Dooku's lightsaber prop is curved and is based on a rapier, with an Arabian flare. Obi-Wan Kenobi uses a lightsaber prop that is a duplicate of the one he lost in battle at the end of Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) Where Luke Skywalker's T-16 Skyhopper sat in the garage of the Lars homestead in Star Wars, a smaller ship with a similar design sits parked there in this film. Also, Luke's landspeeder is visible in the garage in this film.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) Due to much of the animosity aimed towards Jar-Jar Binks in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, the working title of Episode II was "Jar-Jar's Big Adventure".

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) Hugh Quarshie was originally slated to reprise his role as Capt. Panaka from Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace. However, he turned down the offer after Lucasfilm refused to let him read the whole script, so his character was written out and replaced with a newly created chief of Security Captain Typho, portrayed by Jay Laga'aia.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) Hayden Christensen became the only actor in any Star Wars movie who didn't get to choose the design of his lightsaber. It had been a tradition, but Christensen was stuck using a saber of the same design that Obi-Wan gives Luke in Star Wars.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) During the scene set in the Lars homestead dining room, Owen Lars asks Anakin "where are you going?" as he is the first one to leave the table. This is a reference to a similar scene in Star Wars when Luke becomes anxious to leave and Aunt Beru asks where he's going.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) EASTER EGG: On the special features disc of the DVD, go to Dex's Kitchen from the Still Galleries menu (it's listed as "Dex's Kitchen and Still Galleries" in the main menu). Then in the menu that follows, use your remote to select the flier on the wall behind Dex. This will take you to a reel showing "flyers" made by college students to promote the film. They contain links to web sites which you can access if you put the disc in your computer.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) In the Jedi Archives, many of the busts, sculpted by Richard Miller are actually of members of the "Star Wars" staff, including George Lucas, animation director Rob Coleman, visual effects supervisors John Knoll and Pablo Helman and Model supervisor Brian Gernand.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) During the Speeder chase on Coruscant, when Zam heads straight down the cityscape you can see an X-Wing being chased by three Tie Fighters in the bottom left of the shot.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) The Senate votes to give the Supreme Chancellor sweeping emergency powers to go to war against the Separatist forces. This is the same ploy Adolf Hitler used to gain similar dictatorial power in mid-1930s Germany.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) The Clone Troopers' rifle design is based on the German MG-42 machine gun.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) The droid factory chase sequence was not in the original script. Anakin and Padme were originally captured as soon as they arrived on Geonosis. George Lucas wrote an additional action sequence based in the droid factory to lead up to their capture that was filmed in March 2001.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) According to the official web site, one of the many considered ideas for the character who eventually became Dooku was a female sith. The rejected concepts for this later found their way into creating a new character, Asajj Ventress, who appeared extensively in the Clone Wars comics, cartoons and novels.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) The fight between Yoda and Dooku was envisioned quite differently. Originally, Yoda was to come in and immediately have the fight with Dooku, but many of the creative team felt that was too quick a transition for Yoda, and the audience needed to feel the power of good and evil going against each other, so George Lucas added in the preamble to the fight with the blue lightning and rock falls, because it showed how powerful Yoda was. The light saber battle was a culmination of all that energy. There was also footage shot of Dooku using either Obi-Wan's or Anakin's light saber in addition to his own against Yoda, but these moves did not make the final cut.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) The scene where Count Dooku visits the captive Obi-Wan Kenobi and tries in vain to recruit him was not in the original shooting script. This scene was shot during reshoots in early 2001, and was designed to confuse the audience into thinking that Dooku may not be evil after all. This new scene replaced two other scenes, discarded during postproduction where Count Dooku's true allegiance was clearly stated; a brief meeting where Padme and Anakin meet the character in a conference room and refuse an offer to join him, and their subsequent trial where they are sentenced to death, which would have led directly to the scenes in the execution arena in the film.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) The look of the Republic Clone Troopers is a cross between the Mandalorian armor worn by Jango Fett (later Boba Fett) and the armor worn by the Imperial Storm Troopers of episodes IV, V and VI.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) According to George Lucas, Obi-Wan's hiding in Geonosis' asteroid field teaches young Boba Fett a lesson that he uses to his advantage during adulthood. Having learned how Obi-Wan hid from him and his father, Boba Fett knows the trick Han Solo is using to hide in Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back and is able to find him.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) Senator Amidala is the best shot; she almost never misses. This is a reference to her daughter, Leia, who also almost never misses.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) Jedi Council members Eeth Koth and Adi Gallia, though recast, were originally supposed to make appearances in this film. In the role of Eeth Koth, Hassani Shapi was replaced by Tux Akindoyeni; and Gin Clarke was replaced by Lily Nyamwasa. Shapi and Clarke still appear in this film, though they were not involved in its production: a scene in the Jedi Council chamber features a recycled background from Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace. Akindoyeni and Nyamwasa played Koth and Gallia, respectively, during the battle of Geonosis. However, it was decided during post-production that they looked different enough to be designated as different characters. Eeth Koth was therefore changed to Agen Kolar, and Adi Gallia became Stass Allie. The Episode I characters and cast members are still the only ones credited.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) WILHELM SCREAM: Not the "classic" Wilhelm, but what is known as the "third scream" can be heard at the beginning of the film as Amidala's ship explodes.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) The Neimoidian seen with Nute Gunray on Geonosis was originally intended to be Rune Haako. However, Rune's mask was lost shortly after the first film completed shooting. The production crew gave uncredited actor David Healey the mask of Daultay Dofine instead. Although the "new" Neimoidian had no official name during filming (the character was only referred to by the crew as "Nute's friend"), he was eventually named Gilramos Libkath, after costume supervisor Gillian Libbert and production controller Kathryn Ramos. Unfortunately a mix-up in the end credits not only erroneously lists Alan Ruscoe in the part, but also says the Neimoidian is Lott Dod (the Trade Federation senator seen briefly in Episode I). Much confusion has surrounded whether Nute's companion should be considered Rune Haako, Gilramos Libkath, or Lott Dod. The official LucasFilm word is that it's Rune Haako "for all intents and purposes," but many fans are unsatisfied with this decision based on the fact the character neither looks nor sounds anything like Rune, who is back to his old Episode I self by Episode III.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) According to Animation Director Rob Coleman, not a single clone trooper suit was ever built. Every single clone trooper seen in the film is computer generated, with motion capture performed by ILM employees, wearing only the helmet and sometimes the footwear of the suit. The rest is complete CG.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) EASTER EGG: In the "Options" menu, key in 11 enter 3 enter 8 enter, and you will see bloopers, mostly of Hayden Christensen falling during various takes of the film.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) Running at 142 minutes; this is the longest of the "Star Wars" films.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) Padmé (Natalie Portman) is supposed to be a few years older than Anakin (Hayden Christensen). In real-life, Christensen is almost 2 months older than Portman.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) Sebulba, the champion podracer from Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, seems to appear during the Coruscant chase and in Dex' Diner (in fact there are two of his species in this scene). However, the first Dug has been identified as Taxi cab driver 'Seboca' and his dinner date is named 'Rednax'.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) This film marks the first time Yoda uses a lightsaber. Previously the puppet had problems grasping his own lightsaber and making it look realistic.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) Christopher Lee has pointed out that "Dooku" is the Japanese word for poison, which is inaccurate. The Japanese word for "poison" is pronounced "doku" with the short "o" sound.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) This is the only Star Wars movie where the camera shot tilts up after the opening scroll to start the scene. In all other Star Wars movies, the camera shot tilts down after the scroll.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) For shooting the pre-visualization sequences for the speeder chase scenes, Luke Skywalker's speeder from Star Wars was dug out of storage and used to represent the open-cockpit speeder with Anakin and Obi-Wan, and George Lucas' own Ferrari was used to represent Zam's speeder.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) Both this film and Minority Report, directed by George Lucas' pal Steven Spielberg, have similar factory chase scenes.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) In the Brazilian translation, the names of Count Dooku and the Jedi Master Zaifo-Dias were changed. The reason is that in Portuguese language, "Dooku" and "Zaifo-Dias" has obscene meanings when spoken. "Dooku" became "Dookan" and "Zaifo-Dias" became "Zaifo-Vias". In other countries of Portuguese language that change hasn't happened.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) The planet name 'Geonosis' is taken from the Greek word used in ancient times 'gnosis' - meaning 'knowledge'.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) This is the only "Star Wars" film to be released during the same year as a "Star Trek" film: Star Trek: Nemesis.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) After making this film, Ewan McGregor appeared in Black Hawk Down, which required him to be clean-shaved and to have an extremely close buzz cut. New scenes with Obi-Wan Kenobi were then added to this film in post-production. Since McGregor had not had enough time to regrow his hair or a full beard, he had to be fitted with a hairpiece and prosthetic beard, which is often easily distinguished from his natural hair, as it appears in the rest of the film. These scenes include the conversation between Obi-Wan and Anakin in the elevator; the exchange concerning the 'changeling' in the Outlander club; the Jedi temple talk between Obi-Wan, Mace and Yoda and his interrogation by Count Dooku.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) This marks the first (chronological) time that Obi-Wan Kenobi cuts off an enemy's gun hand in a bar filled with people whom fall silent and then return to their business. The second (chronological) time is in Star Wars where he and Luke Skywalker meet Han Solo.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) The death-sticks that the pusher tries to sell Obi-Wan were a hallucinogenic drug. With each dose, the user's life was shortened, and the successive dosages took away larger chunks from their lifespan. With each successive dose, the desire for a harder reaction increased.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) Dexter Jettster's surname comes from George Lucas nickname for his son Jett. The character was partly inspired by Hollywood legend Ernest Borgnine and Mel, the gruff chef, as played by Vic Tayback from Alice. Another hidden reference to this series can be found on the droid waitress WA-7: her name-tag reads 'Flo' in the Star Wars font 'Aurebesh'.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) Ben Burtt experimented with using drumbeats and percussion sounds to underscore the Droid factory sequence. When George Lucas told him to put in traditional effects instead, the scenes ended up accompanied by temp music from John Williams Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back score.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) The large Aiwha creature, briefly seen flying out of the waves of Kamino, was originally designed by Ralph McQuarrie for Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back. In that film, the 'air-whale' would have been seen on Bespin. Subsequently, it was proposed as desert mounts for the Sarlaac scene in Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi and then to be used by the Gungan in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) When Anakin is slaughtering the Tusken Raiders, Qui-Gon's voice can be heard in the background. This is no accident. According to Star Wars canon, Qui-Gon's Force-Ghost tried to stop Anakin's rage, but failed.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) According to Star Wars canon, the Tusken Raiders who kidnapped Shmi Skywalker were paid to do so by Count Dooku. Dooku had done this on orders from his master, Darth Sidious.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) In the Star Wars novel, 'Tatooine Ghost', it is related that Anakin's slaughter of the Tusken Raiders passed into their folklore. The battle is commemorated with a dance to the sounds of a lightsaber.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) Dex's backstory was that he was a former mercenary and explorer. He and Obi-Wan had served together on a couple of missions.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) Dex's full name is Dexter Jettster.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) Hayden Christensen and Natalie Portman play the parents of Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher. Christensen and Hamill both have Swedish ancestry, while Portman and Fisher both have Jewish ancestry.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) The Skywalker family has a great deal of Swedish blood. Pernilla August is Swedish, and Hayden Christensen's ancestry is Swedish as well, as is Mark Hamill's. Anakin's stepfather's name is Lars, a typically Swedish name.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) One of the sculptures in Padme's apartment on Coruscant resembles the work of sculptor Constantin Brancusi. The sculpture is on the table near the balcony and looks like a tall, thin flame.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) A conversation between Obi-Wan and Jocasta Nu was written and filmed but deleted, and would have identified the bust that Obi-Wan is looking at to be Count Dooku.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) The missile launcher with the two big wheels is an IG-227 Hailfire droid tank. It was inspired by the Russian Tsar Tank, designed in 1914.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) George Lucas originally wanted Sammo Hung Kam-Bo to be the lightsaber fight choreographer.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) During a meeting with Producer Rick McCallum and Animation Director Rob Coleman about how Yoda should move during the lightsaber duel with Count Dooku, George Lucas stated that Yoda should be leaping around with frog-like reflexes, jokingly referring to Yoda as "the illegitimate child of Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy".

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) During rehearsals and filming of Count Dooku's lightsaber battle scenes, a small model of Yoda was used as a reference point for Christopher Lee. The model however was slightly altered to have vampire fangs, to which Lee's amused response was "I will not comment on that. I didn't think you would do this to me George!" The fangs were likely a joke at Lee's expense for his performance as Count Dracula in Horror of Dracula.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) Although both Nute Gunray (Silas Carson) and Shmi Skywalker (Pernilla August) were both major supporting characters in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, neither character's name was given in dialogue until this film.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) Although Count Dooku (Christopher Lee) is the main villain and is mentioned in the opening crawl, he does not make his first appearance until 76 minutes into the film.

GOOFS:

Audio/visual unsynchronised

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) When Padme falls from the ship Dooku shot, she can be heard screaming, but her lips do not move.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) After Obi Wan sends the message for help to Anakin and Amidala, Amidala says she is going to Geonosis to "help Obi Wan", though her lip movement indicates she is going to "save Obi Wan."

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) When Anakin is talking to Padme on the red couch his profile shows his mouth is moving, but he says nothing.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) During the fireplace conversation, in one of the "over-Anakin's-shoulder" shots, Anakin stops talking, but we see him say another line.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) When Padme and Anakin are in the field on Naboo talking to one another, Padme says, "I went into public service," but her lip movement doesn't match what she says.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) The thumping sounds of the creature's feet in the arena are frequently unsynchronized throughout the scene.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) During Yoda's fight with Count Dooku, you hear the sound of lightsabers intersecting when they aren't.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) Near the end of the movie, Count Dooku uses the force to pull the ceiling down on Yoda. When Yoda uses the force to stop the rocks and push them away, a very large piece of rock smashes against the wall without making a sound.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) In the arena scene when the monsters are approaching, Obi-Wan tells Anakin to "Concentrate". His lips are actually saying the original line, which was "You take the one on the left, I'll take the one on the right". This line was present in the media screenings but changed for the theatrical release.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) Dooku's lightsaber has two different sound effects when he turns it on. The first time, when he is about to duel Obi-Wan, the sound is similar to Luke Skywalker's lightsaber from Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi. The second time Dooku turns his lightsaber on, when he is about to fight Yoda, the sound is the same as Darth Vader's from the original trilogy (as well as Darth Maul's from Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace).

Continuity

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) When Obi-Wan is climbing out of his starfighter on Geonosis we see R4's head (dome) facing the front of the ship and then rotate left. The next cut, R4's head (dome) is facing forward again, and repeats the motion rotating left a second time.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) When Anakin is talking to Padme before going off in search of his mother on Tatooine the positions of their shadows change between shots.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) When Anakin is talking to his mother just before she dies, the amount of sweat on his face changes between shots.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) On clone ship following Count Dooku, Obi-wan wants to fire at Count Dooku's speeder but the ship's command reports that the ship is out of rockets. However when camera cuts to Obi-wan with wing in background 4 rockets are under the wing

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) In all the "Arrival to Geonosis" scenes, the planet is surrounded by nothing but the asteroid field. When Count Dooku retreats from the world, several Trade Federation Droid Control Ships have mysteriously appeared as well.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) When Obi-Wan, Anakin and Padme are chasing after Count Dooku on Geonosis, Dooku's escorts shoot at them. Padme falls from the ship holding her gun, but in the wide shot, there is no gun to be seen.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) When Obi-Wan talks to Yoda about who might have erased Kamino from the Jedi Archives, Yoda is instructing Younglings in sabre technique. In one shot an alien Youngling appears in the back of the class, in the next, he's in front of the class. When the shot re-establishes, the alien is once again in the back of the class.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) When a Clone Trooper finds Padme after she has fallen out of the gunship on Geonosis, she tells him to get a transport ready so they can follow Anakin and Obi-Wan to Dooku's hangar. There's no way she could have know they were going there; she was unconscious when they did.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) Kneeling over her decoy, Padme's hair is on both sides of her shoulders. When she stands up, her hair is all on one side.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) When Padme is packing for her trip to Naboo, at one point she is in her closet holding a red garment. A moment later, when she places it in her case, it has changed color to blue.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) The spinning display in the background of the Lars family's workshop is inconsistently placed between cuts.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) When Anakin and Padme are in the tunnel at Geonosis, Anakin stops Padme with his right hand, but in the next shot, he's holding her back with his left hand.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) While in the arena on Geonosis, when Mace Windu is fighting the droids, his under tunic of his Jedi Garb is overlaying to his right. Shortly after, just after beheading Jango Fett, the tunic is overlaying to his left.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) The three antennae on the back of the yellow speeder disappear briefly as Anakin catches Obi-Wan when he falls from the drone.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) As Anakin chases Zam through the crowd, the same shot of him passing by a column (he shoulders by it as he passes) is played twice.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) When Anakin is with his mother in the Tusken camp, and she is giving her "I'm so proud of you" speech, the position of her hand on his face changes between shots.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) As clone ships fly away from the arena, the last ship loads its missiles. When it is reloading you can clearly see droids on the field. In the next shot with R2D2 and C3PO there are no droids on the field.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) When Obi Wan sends the message for help to Anakin and Amidala, Amidala presses a red button in order to transmit the message to the Jedi council. A minute later she presses the same red button in order to view a map of a galaxy, without first doing anything which might be expected to change the function of the button. There have been some desperate attempts to explain this one away, but we don't buy it.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) When Anakin fights Dooku with his and Obi-Wan's lightsabers, the blades change hands as soon as the fight starts.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) When Obi-Wan Kenobi grabs the provoking stick from the Geonosian and holds it to fend off the acklay, he holds it in the middle. In one shot, however, the stick is then shown being held towards the tip.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) At one point Padme gets scratched by the Nexu you can see the scratches and blood later in the movie when she is in the gunship the holes are still in her shirt but there is no scratches or blood

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) When Ki Adi Mundi first draws his lightsaber in the Arena, it is blue. After Yoda and the clones arrive, his lightsaber is green. Seconds later, when he gets on a ship, his lightsaber is blue again.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) In the battle arena scene where C3PO's head is being dragged by R2D2, C3PO is heard talking. ON Bespin, C3PO's voice controls were on his back and he was unable to talk until he was joined with his body as this is where power was derived.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) When Obi-Wan is at the Jedi Temple library and the elderly librarian is helping him to locate the Kamino system on the display screen, he states that it should be at the part of the galaxy's picture he points to (somewhere to the center left of the screen) but when the screen zooms in to the location, it doesn't zoom in to the location Obi-Wan points to, and instead zooms in to the center of the galaxy at the dead center of the image.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) During the arena battle, two creatures of fairly significant size (the reek and the acklay) are quite clearly killed. However, during later wide shots of the arena, neither creature's corpse is visible. The reek later reappears when Boba Fett is examining Jango's severed head.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) Jango Fett's guns make a different sound during the arena fight than during the rest of the movie.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) When Obi-Wan is having a drink at the Outlander Club bar, there is a woman with short blond hair sitting at his left. As he spins around swinging his lightsaber at Zam Wesell, the woman's chair is empty (he would have hit her if she was still sitting there). In the next close-up of Obi-Wan, the woman has returned to her seat (at the far left of the screen).

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) When Zam Wesell runs into the Outlander Club, the area beside the entrance is empty. A moment later, As Anakin and Obi-Wan arrive, there are several canisters and cases placed outside the arches of the Outlander on the right.

Crew or equipment visible

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) When Count Dooku addresses the Jedi just before the Clones come to their rescue, the wisps of his hair on the left appear green.

Incorrectly regarded as goofs

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) Owen Lars (Anakin's step-brother, and eventually Luke's uncle) owns C-3P0 in this film. Yet when he buys C-3P0 from the Jawas in Star Wars, he doesn't seem to recognize the protocol droid, nor does C-3P0 recognize him. This can be easily explained in several different ways. C-3P0 has different coverings in Star Wars than he did in Attack of the Clones, for one thing. We can also deduce from watching all the movies in the Star Wars saga that C-3P0's design is a very common one for protocol droids, as we see several protocol droids that look like him throughout the series. Also, we see in Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith that C-3P0 undergoes a memory wipe. This explains why he doesn't remember Owen.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) Padme's decoy, Corde, is seen killed in the beginning when the ship explodes, but in later scenes, we see a decoy that appears to be Corde. This is not a goof, though, as the decoy we are seeing is actually a different decoy, named Dorme (remember, since Padme's decoys obviously need to be able to impersonate her, they are naturally all going to look similar!), whom we hear her refer to by name (confirming that she IS, in fact, not Corde but a different decoy) just before she and Anakin board the freighter bound for Naboo.

Plot holes

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) During the light-saber battle with Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Dooku, Obi-wan is slashed by Dooku and falls to the floor. Dooku raises his saber to kill him. Anakin dives in and blocks his saber. In the wide shot, not only is Obi-Wan not anywhere to be seen, he almost immediately, THROWS his saber to Anakin. Neither Dooku or Anakin had moved yet. Obi-Wan should have been able to just hand his saber up to Anakin.

Revealing mistakes

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) At several points in the movie, characters are missing reflections and shadows.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) The space traffic seen in the window of Palpatine's office repeats itself exactly during every scene, day or night.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) When Anakin and Padme arrive on Geonosis they enter the underground factories. A steel door opens above them and Padme ducks to enter. However when Anakin follows he does not duck enough and his head passes through the digitally created metal door.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) Flipped shot: When Anakin is stalking Zam in the bar, before she attacks Obi-Wan, his plaited hair is on the left side of his head in one shot.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) When Obi-Wan is talking to Jango and Boba in their "apartment", Obi-Wan pauses. He's not moving and you can see the back of his head. When Jango walks behind Obi-Wan on the screen, you can see Jango's "shadow" through Obi-Wan.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) In the underground factory fight in Geonosis, Anakin's light saber tip gets tangled with his cape, and he tries for a brief second to take it off.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) When Yoda is about to leave the meeting, right after the assassination of the queen we can see that he still is in front of his chair, even though he is moving for several seconds.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) Obi-Wan's beard is noticeably fake in several scenes. This is because actor Ewan McGregor had shaved off his beard after principal photography, and the shooting of additional scenes required a wig and fake beard to re-create his look. Shots include the scene in the elevator to Padmé's apartment, the exchange about the 'changeling' in the Outlander Club and his entire interrogation by Count Dooku.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) The shot of Count Dooku raising his lightsaber over Obi-Wan is played backwards. It is seen again moments later as he strikes down.

crazy credits

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) During the tour of the Kaminoan cloning facility, there are several shots that appear to have been flipped. The giveaway is that Obi-Wan kimono overlays on the left instead of the right, and his lightsaber hilt is hanging from the left instead of the right.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) There are no opening credits.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) The opening logo for 20th Century Fox is static (to match the opening of Episodes 4, 5 and 6), instead of the animated 3-D logo used in Fox films at the time.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) Actors Jerome Blake, Hassani Shapi, Gin Clarke, Khan Bonfils, Michaela Cottrell and Dipika O'Neill Joti are credited for playing the same Jedi Council members as in Episode I, although they did not film any new footage for Episode II. Instead the Jedi Council scene uses recycled footage from Episode I. Many of those parts were re-cast (or in some cases renamed) for Episode II, during the Battle of Geonosis, using Australian actors, but they are not credited.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005)

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) George Lucas initially said that no characters from the original movies would appear in Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith apart from a baby Luke and Leia. However, the final movie also has Yoda, Obi-Wan, Darth Vader, Palpatine, Chewbacca, Grand Moff Tarkin, Mon Mothma, R2-D2, C-3PO, Owen Lars, and Beru Whitesun/Lars, all of whom had appearances in Star Wars, Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back or Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) Apart from providing the voice of R2D2 and the heavy breathing of Darth Vader, which he has done since Star Wars, Ben Burtt provided the voices for every Battle Droid, Super Battle Droid and Buzz Droid in Revenge of the Sith.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) The medical droid (FX-7) that had repaired Luke Skywalker's hand in Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back is very similar to the droid (FX-9) shown working on Darth Vader in the Imperial rehabilitation center.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) The Clone Trooper vehicles featured during the battle on Kashyyyk are the ten-wheeled HV6 Juggernaut armored personnel carriers, while the mini two-legged AT-RT light walkers, and the AT-AP pod walkers are forerunners to the Imperial AT-ST mini walkers featured in Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi. In fact, the Juggernaut (also known as the Turbo Tank) is based on designs for the AT-AT Joe Johnston made for The Empire Strikes BAck.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) The name of the lizard (a Varactyl) that Obi-Wan rides is Boga. Boga is the name of a popular soft drink in Tunisia, which Lucas has also filmed scenes in. He even named a planet after a city in this country (Tatooine).

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) Tom Stoppard did a "script polish" for the film. Something that he's done on many Lucasfilm productions.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) Bail Organa's ship at the end is a real set. No blue screen work was used for those scenes.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) After the opening battle, as the transport lands at the senate building in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen the Millennium Falcon (or a ship of similar model, Corellian Engineering Corporation YT series YT-1300 Transport) can be seen landing. In the Expanded Universe Star Wars story outside the movies, the YT-1300 has been confirmed as the Millenium Falcon, then named Stellar Envoy, long before Han Solo owned it.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) Every clone trooper in the film is a CGI. Not a single clone costume or helmet was created.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) Ewan McGregor had Lucasfilm make him a looped reel of all of Alec Guinness's scenes from the original movies so that he could study them.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) Ewan McGregor apparently asked if he could also play one of the Emperor's red-robed Imperial Guards. However it's not known whether he did or not.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) George Lucas originally intended have Peter Cushing reprise his role as Tarkin, years after his death, through the use of stock footage and digital technology. However, the idea was scrapped when the footage of Cushing was deemed unusable.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) In the battle duel scene with Count Dooku, the imprisoned Palpatine originally had more dialog which he was to shout at Anakin. One of his lines pertained to Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones in which Palpatine exposed Dooku as paying the Tusken Raiders to kidnap, torture and kill Shmi Skywalker.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) Body count: 115, the highest of any 'Star Wars' film. This only counts bodies that are seen. If we counted implied deaths, the highest would be either Star Wars what with the destructions of Alderaan and the Death Star, or Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi what with the destruction of another Death Star and many ships besides.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) The newest addition to Separatist army are the Crab Droids seen at the battle on Utapau, as well as the flying droid gunships and the NR-N199 Tank Battle droids at the battle on Kashyyyk which are in fact amphibious versions of the Corporate Alliance Tank Battle droids first mentioned in Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) Liam Neeson has said that he recorded a cameo as Qui-Gonn Jinn, which was to feature in a scene with Yoda, further explaining the concept of a Jedi communicating from beyond the grave. In the script, the dialog (in which Qui-Gonn is heard, not seen) appeared in the scene in which Yoda is meditating on the secret asteroid base, just before Bail Organa informs him of Obi-Wan's return with Padme. The scene does not appear in the deleted scenes section of the DVD, however an unfinished version was included in the Blu Ray Release Box Set.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) In the opening sequence when the second Separatist ship is destroyed, a piece of debris flies into the Clone Star destroyer that shot it. That piece of debris is a Kitchen Sink. It was it put in there by ILM as a joke from someone saying, "We're throwing everything in the sequence but the kitchen sink."

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) The images of the volcanic eruption on Mustafar was real footage of Mt. Etna in Italy which was erupting at the time of production

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) The squadron of blue-striped clone troopers that Darth Vader leads into the Jedi Temple is called the 501st Legion, named after an organization of costume fans, also known as Vader's Fist.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) Clone Trooper Commander Cody was named in honor of the old comic hero Commando Cody.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) Christopher Lee filmed all his scenes in two days. His filming schedule was moved up to follow pick-up shots for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King in New Zealand. All of his scenes were shot in front of a blue screen because the General's Quarters set had not yet been built.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) The original cut of the film ran nearly four hours. The opening battle/Palpatine rescue alone ran over an hour.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) Bail Organa's Corellian Corvette (the one with the white interior walls), the Tantive IV, then a CR70 model, was later retrofittet into a CR90 model and repainted. It was given to Princess Leia, and is the same ship that was captured at the beginning of Star Wars.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) Members of starwars.com's "Hyperspace" determined the look of Obi-Wan Kenobi's new astromech droid R4-G9 by entering a poll on starwars.com between July and August of 2003. Presented with four different color schemes, they picked the bronze and copper design (not unlike the red domed R4-P17 from Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones). Naturally this droid became one of the earliest action figures released for Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) In the Wookiee army scene, there are only 10 men in Wookiee suits. They were repositioned multiple times so the various shots could be combined with computer duplicated Wookiees.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) WILHELM SCREAM: Early on in the film during the dogfight, as a laser cannon is destroyed, one of the clone troopers running by is sent flying from the explosion and the Wilhelm Scream is heard. In the original showings in theaters a Wilhelm Scream was also heard when a clone is shot out of his fighter in the dogfight (as the camera makes the long shot watching him float through space) - while the shot remains; the scream was removed.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) Anthony Daniels (C-3PO) and Kenny Baker (R2-D2) are the only actors to appear in all six "Star Wars" films. In second place is Frank Oz (Yoda) who appeared or performed a voice in five of the films and in third place are James Earl Jones (voice of Darth Vader), Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca) and Ian McDiarmid (Supreme Chancellor Palpatine/Darth Sidious) who all appear in four of the films (unless one counts McDiarmid appearing in the 2004 DVD Special Edition in which he replaces the old actor and reprises his role as Palpatine in Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back). The character of Obi-Wan Kenobi also appeared in all six films but was played by two different actors, Sir Alec Guinness and Ewan McGregor.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) There are over 2,200 visual effects shots in this film, more than Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace and Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones combined. Star Wars only had 350 such shots.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) This is the only Star Wars movie that did not receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Visual Effects. The film's only nomination was for its make-up, which it lost to The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) Anthony Daniels (without C-3PO costume), George Lucas and his daughters Katie Lucas and Amanda Lucas all have cameo appearances in the Opera scene, as well as several members of the special effects team (Rob Coleman and John Knoll amongst others) and a number of characters from earlier Star Wars movies.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) When Vader is being fitted with the helmet and subsequently breaks free of the shackles, George Lucas decided at the last minute to change the position of Vader's arms from up to down by his side (the original shot can be seen in the trailers). This is why, after breaking free from the bonds, Vader appears to raise his arms, when in fact it is the necessary transition from computer-generated arms to live action arms.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) The cans containing reels of the film were appropriately but falsely marked with the title "The Bridge" for at least one pre-release screening.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) As Anakin settles into Palpatine's viewing box, take a look at box adjacent to the Chancellor's. It is filled with notable names from Industrial Light & Magic. Seated from left to right (first row) are Visual Effects Producer Jill Brooks, Animation Supervisor Rob Coleman, Visual Effects Producer Janet Lewin, (and back row) Visual Effects Supervisor Roger Guyett, Visual Effects Producer Denise Ream, and Visual Effects Supervisor John Knoll. If you look at the shots that favor Palpatine during his wistful retelling of the Darth Plagueis yarn, you'll see Knoll sitting over his shoulder.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) After their climactic duel, Obi-Wan can be seen picking up Anakin's lightsaber, which he later gives to Anakin's son Luke in Star Wars.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) The hot rod speeder car driven by Sen. Bail Organa (Jimmy Smits) is based on the front of a Tucker that is parked at Skywalker Ranch.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) This film marks Peter Mayhew's first return to the big screen since Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi. Between the two films, the only other movie he has done was Dragon Ball GT: A Hero's Legacy, made for TV in which he voices one of the characters.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) As Yoda has been created digitally since Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones, one of the puppets of Yoda created for the filming of Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace was used as a reference point for the ease of actors on-set during re-shoots in late summer 2004. Time in the Lucasfilm archives had not been kind to the puppet, which had acquired an incidentally comically contorted look on its face.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) Originally, a young Han Solo was going to make an appearance in the film, living among the Wookies on Kashyyyk.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) George Lucas allowed his friend Steven Spielberg to help design some sequences during pre-production. This was partly because Spielberg wanted the experience of using the 'pre-visualisation' techniques pioneered by ILM as he was going to use them for War of the Worlds. It was also because Lucas felt that his roles as Writer, Director, Executive Producer and Financier were taking up too much of his time and he needed another director to bounce ideas off. Spielberg's main contribution was in the climactic lightsaber duel between Obi-Wan and Anakin.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) Bai Ling had filmed several scenes for the movie that were later cut. There was a rumor that George Lucas cut these scenes after Bai Ling posed for Playboy. He has, however, denied this rumor and has said that her scenes were cut 8 months before she posed for Playboy, and the photos had nothing to do with his decision.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) The Darth Vader mask for this film was rebuilt from scratch, using a new digital design to computer-lathe the base master, from which molds were made to cast the on-screen costume masks. The resulting masks are, for the first time in Star Wars history, truly symmetrical.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) The role of Captain Antilles was originally offered to Denis Lawson, who played Wedge Antilles in the original trilogy.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) All shots of C-3PO had the entire green screen set reflecting in his shiny gold armor, so digital effects artists in post-production had to digitally repaint C-3PO's armor frame by frame to remove any traces of the set.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) The battle with Wookiees dates back to the earliest screenplays of Star Wars. Originally, the Wookiees were supposed to help the Rebels conquer an Imperial bunker. This idea was the basis for the Battle of Endor in Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi, but instead of using Wookiees, George Lucas decided to use a smaller furry race and call them Ewoks.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) The planet name "Utapau" appears in the early drafts of two previous Star Wars films. In Lucas's first draft of the very first movie, Utapau was the home planet of Kane, Anakin and Deak Starkiller. The planet's desert terrain eventually became the planet Tatooine. Utapau was also the original name for Naboo in the first draft of the screenplay for Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) Actors Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen trained for two months in fencing and fitness in preparation for their fight sequences.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) A subscription service offered by Lucasfilm offered fans the chance to watch various stages of the production via a webcam.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) Although no live-action location filming was done during principal photography, post-production filming was done in Thailand, Switzerland and China to represent background plates for the Wookiee planet of Kashyyyk.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) One of the early concepts for General Grievous was a small child sitting on a floating chair, guarded by two IG88 droids from Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back. George Lucas rejected this look as a child would not be taken seriously as the deadliest hand to hand fighter the galaxy has seen, which is how he wanted Grievous to be portrayed. Instead, part of the final look for General Grievous' face was inspired by the shape of a bathroom detergent spray nozzle.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) The Wookiee costumes from this film sport a new arterial system that pump ice cold water to help cool down the actor wearing the suit.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) In August 2004, a rumor started floating around the Internet that George Lucas had decided to make Episodes VII, VIII and IX after all, after the supposed discovery that Lucasfilm employees had signed non-disclosure agreements barring them from speaking about the films. Lucas later refuted the rumor, stating he still has no intention of making a third trilogy. Lucas has said in interviews he plans on making a live action TV series and a cartoon series.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) A process of applying chrome to rubber was developed during production, allowing lightsaber hilts to be made of rubber and used in stunts without hurting the actors.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) The first teaser trailer (released on 5 November 2004) was code-named "Sand Dogs".

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) In Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones, The look of the Clone troopers was a cross between the Mandalorian armour worn by Jango Fett and the storm troopers of Star Wars, Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi. In this movie, the look of the clone troopers edges a bit more towards the look of the stormtroopers, but still retains a few elements of the Mandalorian armour.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) The character Mas Amedda is played by two actors in this film: Jerome Blake and David Bowers. Blake played the role previously in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace. Likewise, Bowers played the role previously in Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones. In this film, For the scenes shot in Australia during principal photography, Bowers played the part. For new scenes/pickups shot in England, Blake reprised the role.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) Francis Ford Coppola suggested Christopher Neil to George Lucas to be the dialog coach. Lucas said that given the emotional intensity of Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, and the fact that he rarely has time to converse with the actors, it would be ideal for someone else to be there to get the strongest performances possible. Neil is in fact Coppola's nephew, and his father, Bill Neil (brother to Eleanor Coppola) worked for ILM during the production of the original trilogy.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) Hayden Christensen gained 24.2 pounds (11 kilograms) for this film. He did so by eating six meals a day.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) SERIES TRADEMARK: [line] Obi-Wan Kenobi says "I have a bad feeling about this" during one of the first scenes of the film.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) George Lucas deliberately made the Darth Vader suit top-heavy (for instance adding weight on the helmet) to make Hayden Christensen not appear "too accustomed" to it in the movie.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) Gary Oldman had agreed to be the voice of General Grievous, but pulled out of the film because it was being made using actors who are not part of the Screen Actor's Guild, of which Oldman is a member. The role was read by Duncan Young on set, and finally voiced by Matthew Wood, who, being a Lucasfilm employee, submitted his reading under the name of Alan Smithee.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) During production the Mon Calamari opera was nicknamed "Squid Lake".

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) Ian McDiarmid is doubled by a trained stuntman for his light-saber battles and more physically demanding shots, such as when Palpatine scrambles away from Mace Windu. As with Christopher Lee, computer effects were used to put the actor's face over the face of the stunt double. McDiarmid stated in numerous interviews that he was pleased that his character, even if not himself personally, was finally involved in some action sequences. For the sword fight between Windu and Sidious, however, the demands for camera angles and close-ups meant that stunt coordinator Nick Gillard had to teach the two actors the entire fight sequence, which was then shot partly with the stunt performers, and partly with Jackson and Mcdiarmid.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) The opening shot of the film lasts 76 seconds after the disappearance of the opening crawl, the longest of any Star Wars film.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) During the production of this film, Lucas also filmed a scene for Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back. Ian McDiarmid, who first played Emperor Palpatine in Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi, was filmed in prosthetic make-up for use in the character's first appearance as a hologram in Empire, replacing the unknown woman and the voice of Clive Revill.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) 'Aiden Barton', the toddler who portrayed the infant Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa, is the son of crew member Roger Barton.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola, Robert De Niro, Elijah Wood, Dean Devlin and Liam Neeson are all known to have visited the set of the last ever Star Wars movie during filming.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) The entire movie was shot on the Sony HDC-F950 High Definition camera, using Sony's HDCAM SR digital video format. The Camera itself retails for about US$150,000. George Lucas has said that he plans to never shoot a movie on film again.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) When Obi-Wan finds General Grievous on Utapau, his first words are, "Hello, there." In Star Wars, when Obi-Wan is first introduced, his words to R2-D2 are, "Hello, there."

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) The color palette of the movie was inspired by the paintings of Mark Rothko. George Lucas is a big fan of the painter.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) General Grievous's breathing problems in this film, as well as his exposed gut-sack (later exploited by Obi Wan) are caused by his brief encounter with Mace Windu in Star Wars: Clone Wars. Mace Windu "force-gripped" Grievous as the General was making off with Palpatine, crushing the cyborg's chest panel.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) At the time it was filmed, the prop representing Bail Organa's speeder was built from the windshield to the rear. It wasn't until post-production that the front of the vehicle's design was chosen. Lucas based the hood and front of the speeder on the design of the Tucker automobile. Unlike the Tucker, Bail's speeder only has the 'cyclop's eye' headlamp, and not the outer two headlamps.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) Total number of screen wipes: 40

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) According to the extra material, the climactic fight between Vader and Kenobi took upwards of 70,000 man hours to create - doing the math, this constitutes the work of one man for more than 25 years, given roughly normal hours per day (which probably no one ever did working on this production).

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) The only film in the series to have an MPAA rating higher than PG; a PG-13.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) The volcanic world of Mustafar was designed to look like George Lucas's vision of hell.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) The subtitle "Revenge of the Sith" is a play on the working subtitle for Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi, "Revenge of the Jedi". For episode VI, that title was abandoned because George Lucas determined that revenge was not a suitable attitude for a Jedi. Since this film, however, is about the triumph of the Sith, "revenge" is entirely appropriate.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) Ian McDiarmid recorded his scenes in the opera box on Coruscant while suffering with a case of laryngitis.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) Ian McDiarmid has likened Palpatine in this film to Iago in William Shakespeare's play Othello, in the way he manipulates other characters to turn against each other, to their own destruction. McDiarmid has in fact played Iago on stage, as has Ewan McGregor. James Earl Jones has played Othello himself.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) Many viewers were surprised the Grievous could be trained in Jedi arts, much less wield a lightsaber. The answer is that when Grievous was constructed, he was given the blood of a Jedi Master, who had a high midi-chlorian count. With this connection to the Force, Grievous had no difficulty learning Jedi ways.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) Prior to the official announcement of this movie's subtitle to be "Revenge of the Sith", several rumors had circled about as to speculation of the final prequel's subtitle. Such speculations included possible subtitles as "Rise of the Empire" and "The Creeping Fear".

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) In 2007, Dr. Eric Bui, a psychiatrist in Toulouse, France, co-wrote a study that diagnosed Anakin Skywalker as having borderline personality disorder. When the authors reported their findings at the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association they stated that Skywalker fit the diagnosis criteria: difficulty controlling anger, stress-related breaks with reality, impulsivity, obsession with abandonment and a "pattern of unstable and intense interpersonal relationships characterized by alternating between extremes of ideation and devaluation".

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) The script, and the action figures, identify Anakin and Obi-Wan as using the call-signs "Red Five" and "Red Leader," respectively, during the opening battle. "Red Five" was also the call-sign for Luke Skywalker during the Death Star battle in Star Wars. "Red Leader" was the call-sign of Wedge Antilles during the Death Star battle in Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi. Wedge was played by Ewan McGregor's uncle, Denis Lawson.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) George Lucas originally wanted Sammo Hung Kam-Bo to be the lightsaber fight choreographer.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) The only film in the Star Wars canon not to have been released on NTSC VHS. It was, however, released on VHS in PAL regions.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) One of only two Star Wars films without English subtitles to translate alien languages, the other being Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) For some shots during the birth scene, the infant Luke and Leia are portrayed by an animatronic puppet. As this puppet was operated by Ewan McGregor, the cast jokingly referred to it as "Foamy-Wan Kenobi."

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) Count Dooku speaks a total of four lines.

Cameo

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) Jett Lucas: The young Jedi that rushes from the Temple towards Bail Organa's speeder during the Jedi Purge is played by George Lucas' son.

Director Cameo

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) George Lucas: The sound of General Grievous' coughing is George Lucas's own coughing. After developing a bad cough during production, Lucas had it recorded and used as Grievous' own cough.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) George Lucas: The blue skinned Baron Papanoida who appears just outside the entrance to Palpatine's private box at the Galaxies Opera House.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) Silas Carson has two death scenes in this movie. One as Ki-Adi Mundi and the other as Nute Gunray. This is the third time he's died in a Star Wars movie. He was killed at the beginning of Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace where he played the pilot blown up in the Trade Federation hanger.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) As the Darth Vader mask is being lowered onto Anakin's face at the end, there is a shot from his P.O.V. of the inside of the mask. There is a triangular silver item between the eyes of the mask. This item is the actuator (read-write mechanism) from a computer hard-disk drive.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) C-3PO has the last words in this movie ("Oh, no!") and the first words in Star Wars ("Did you hear that? They've shut down the main reactor.")

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) This is the only Star Wars film that does not contain R2-D2 in the final shot.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) During the lightsaber duel scene with General Grievous, it is briefly shown that the second hand that Obi-Wan cuts off is holding a duplicate of Obi-Wan's lightsaber.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) The final scene on Tatooine, where Obi-Wan Kenobi delivers the infant Luke to his aunt and uncle, is often referred to as the "Harry Potter scene". Composer John Williams included a small 11-tone musical cue in the scene reminiscent of his score for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. It can be heard when Obi-Wan arrives at Owen and Beru's house.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) Samuel L. Jackson (Mace Windu) said he knew that he must die in this film, so he told George Lucas he would only do the film if Mace Windu goes out in a blaze of glory and not "like some sucka". On an American late-night talk show, he confirmed that he did indeed have a meaningful death scene; and he does not go out like "some punk".

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) The first draft of the script also explained the mystery surrounding Anakin's conception. In the confrontation scene between Anakin and Palpatine (where Palpatine confesses to Anakin he is Darth Sidious), he would also explain that he used the power of the Force to will the midichlorians to start the cell divisions that created Anakin. This explanation was later deemed unnecessary by George Lucas and subsequently cut.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) In the first draft of George Lucas' screenplay, the movie was to open with a huge montage sequence showing the end of various battles of the Clone Wars on seven different planets across the Galaxy. Each planet was to be distinctly different from the other and was described as "Bridge world", '"Ring World", "Crystal world" and "Kelp world" amongst others. This idea evolved into the sequence where we see various Jedi dying at the hands of the Clones on different planets. Four planets made it into this montage: Mygeeto (Crystal world), Felucia, Saleucami and Cato Neimoidia (Ring World).

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) Palpatine's lightsaber fight with the other Jedi reveals a completely different technique than has been seen before. The chancellor uses his weapon like a fencing foil, striking with the tip. Since the beam cuts through any substance, this makes even a small strike a killing blow. Except for Mace Windu, all the other Jedi use the edge, which requires a wide space to deliver a stroke. This explains why Palpatine was able to kill so many Jedi in such a short amount of time.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) Chancellor Palpatine's strategy for maintaining power is known to political scientists, and is called Perpetual War. He comes to power through conflict with the Trade Federation, gains greater privileges through the Clone War, and solidifies his position through war on the Jedi.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) In the scene where Darth Vader asks the Emperor about Padme, the background music is the same music that was played during Qui-Gon Jinns ceremonial cremation.

GOOFS:

Audio/visual unsynchronised

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) When Padme is trying to convince Anakin to turn from the dark side on Mustafar, when Anakin says "And I'm doing it for you, to protect you." his mouth says "And I'm doing it because I love you, to protect you."

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) When Obi-Wan and Anakin are having their exchange of words following the landing at the Senate building, there is a strange echo when they speak to one another. Neither one is indoors, and there's nothing nearby to create an echo since they are using regular speaking voices.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) As Darth Vader leads the 501st Legion up the steps of the Jedi Temple you can hear their steps, marching in perfect unison, yet you can see that their steps not only do not match the audio, but they are not in sync with each other either.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) After Anakin informs Mace Windu about Palpatine in the hangar, as he follows him to the ship nearby, Mace tells him not to come with him. When you hear Anakin respond "I must go, Master," his mouth is saying something different.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) At the start of the film when Palpatine is captive he says "Count Dooku" to draw the heroes attention to the villain whom has just entered the room. But Palpatine's lips are saying something else.

Character error

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) Anakin angrily states to Obi-Wan that there has never been a Jedi who is not a Master on the Jedi Council, but Ki-Adi Mundi, who has been on the Council for years, was only a Knight when appointed. (Although this is never explicitly stated in the movie, it is written in all officially licensed books regarding the movies.)

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) Viceroy Nute Gunray looks and sounds nothing like his character did in the previous two prequel installments.

Continuity

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) Anakin's scar on his right eye changes, the part below his eye moves slightly down and lengthens. Also, on the DVD box cover, Anakin clearly doesn't have a scar, but posters have artistic license.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) During Anakin and Obi Wan's final fight, bodies on the floor appear and disappear between shots.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) In the final battle between Obi-Wan and Anakin, the river of lava reverses direction of flow. When Obi-Wan jumps off the platform, the river flows towards his right, but in the next shot of Anakin, it is flowing towards Obi-Wan's left.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) Dooku tries to choke Obi-Wan and sends him flying across the room with his left hand while holding his lightsaber in his right hand. In the shot where Dooku uses the Force to crush Obi-Wan with the large metal platform, he uses his right hand, which should be holding the lightsaber. The lightsaber is then in his right hand again when Anakin kicks him off the balcony.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) When the Emperor is pushed back by the force lighting collected by Yoda, he barely holds onto the smooth senate pod to keep from falling. In the next shot (after Yoda has fallen), he's holding onto a metal bar that wasn't there before.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) When Anakin and Obi-Wan are struggling on the table on Mustafar during the final battle, Obi-Wan constantly switches from holding his to Anakin's lightsaber in his right hand. During the Final Battle on Mustafar, while the massive Metal Platform is going over the lava fall, there are some shots where Anakin's glove switches hands, and both characters switch their light sabers from hand to hand between shots.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) When Yoda uses the force to send Darth Sidious flying across the room, Sidious lands in his desk chair which knocks over backwards. In the next shot where the desk is visible, the chair is standing back up again.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) The Bridge crew of the Invisible Hand evacuate the area twice. They start to leave after the Guard Droids are defeated, as evidence by all the empty crew stations when Grievous is making his exit through the window. Then after the windows explode and Grievous is blown out into space and the shutters close, we see another interior shot with the crew again running out of the bridge after it decompressed.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) During the opening space battle, the positions of Anakin's and Obi Wan's microphones on the headsets repeatedly change from in front of their mouths to their chins to their necks and back.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) When Palpatine takes out his lightsaber during the battle with Mace Windu, the unique design of the handle can clearly be seen. When he engages Mace and the Jedi, although the blade is still red, the handle of his lightsaber suddenly changes to Anakin's large clunky handle.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) When Mace Windu gets on the air transport and tells Anakin to stay behind, the shadow of the vehicle disappears in the shot when Anakin is seen alone, but reappears in the next shot when we see the vehicle take off.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) When Yoda enters a room to confront Darth Sidious and knocks the two guards unconscious using the force, the position of the guard's bodies shift during their fight scene and are positioned (conspicuously conveniently) out of the way.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) When Padmé tells Anakin she is pregnant watch the pillar behind them - its design changes throughout the scene.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) After Mace Windu disarms Palpatine, Mace advances on Palpatine with his blade held out, while Palpatine backs into the corner of the window in his office. In the next shot, when Anakin enters the office, Mace is shown advancing on Palpatine again.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) Throughout the fight scene between Sidious and Yoda in the Grand Chamber, the pattern of the chairs change. In some shots, the chairs on the wall are in straight lines, but in other shots they are placed every-other.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) When Anakin is on top of the elevator, getting ready to jump back inside of it, you can see for a moment that the glove is missing from his prosthetic hand, yet after he jumps and is back inside the elevator, the glove is back on.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) When Obi-wan and Anakin enter the elevator on the Trade Federation flagship, they kill several battle droids. In every other take shot in the same elevator, there are no parts left on the floor. The part of the ceiling that Anakin cuts out also disappears. Also, when the elevators stops the first time, a Battle Droid's hand can be seen standing in the left corner, however, when the shot changes, it disappears and then re-appears again in a shot near the end of the sequence.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) when in the beginning of the film, Anakin, Obi-Wan and Chancellor Palpatine are falling down the elevator shaft, Chancellor Palpatine is holding Anakin by the leg at the beginning, then with the next cut he isn't, then when they swing into the corridor he is once again holding on.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) Just before the fight scene between General Grievous and Obi-Wan, Obi-Wan uses the force to drop a large vent-like object on top of Grievous' guards. In the fight scene that follows however, the object has disappeared.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) In the opening scene, a buzz droid punctures a coolant line in the port wing, fogging Obi Wan's cockpit. In the immediate subsequent shots, the fogging is gone.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) After Anakin and Obi-Wan's struggle on the table during the Mustafar duel, Obi-Wan trips Anakin, who lands on his back, and comes to a sliding stop. In the next shot, he slides and stops again.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) After Grievous breaks the bridge's windows and Anakin is trying to 'pilot' the cruiser, the windows that were covered magically show back up.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) In the final battle between Vader and Kenobi they are fighting on the platform that has fallen into the lava river. Just before it goes over the edge, both Vader and Obi Wan swing from cables and slash at one another. Obi Wan jumps onto a small floating piece of debris, the next shot shows the platform about to fall over the edge clearly with the view of a light saber in the middle of the platform. The next shot shows Anakin just swinging back to the platform as its falling over.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) When Mace is approaching the prone Emperor along the broken window ledge, the Emperor scoots backward up to the window frame behind him and Mace stands over him. The camera angle changes to Anakin, and behind him the Emperor is still scooting and Mace is still advancing.

Factual errors

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) During the first part of the escape from the Invisible Hand, when the decks tilt, objects (such as R2-D2, for instance) lose traction and slide "downslope". This would not happen on a ship in which an artificial gravity field was in use. "Down" would always be straight towards the deck, no matter how the ship was oriented with respect to its exterior surroundings. The sliding objects on the ship behave as if the source of gravity was outside and below it. Of course, without internal artificial gravity, everything on the orbiting ship would be in freefall.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) Throughout the movie, Mustafar is described as a "volcanic planet", yet in all of the exterior space shots of the planet, we see it orbiting extremely close to a very large gas giant. There is no way a small planet like Mustafar could maintain its own orbit around its sun so close to a gas giant as depicted in the film without the gas giant having a major gravitational effect on its orbit. It would have been much more realistic (from a physics point of view) to describe Mustafar as a large moon orbiting the gas giant planet, much like the moon of Io orbiting the planet Jupiter in real life.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) The button Padme pushes to start her ship near the end of the film is the same "magic" button that has two functions in Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones. It's shot in exactly the same way and is a deliberate joke.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) Just after Order 66 is given, the zipper in one of the Wookie costumes (the one on the right hand side of the screen standing behind Yoda) has been said to be visible. In fact, it is merely part of the background peeking through the Wookie's legs.

Plot holes

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) When General Grievous is battling Obi-Wan, two of his lightsabers are clearly the Obi-Wan and Anakin models, despite the fact that Obi-Wan and Anakin recovered their lightsabers from him when they escaped the Invisible Hand.

Revealing mistakes

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) Obvious stunt double for Obi-Wan Kenobi when Grievous sends him flying through the air during their fight.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) When Sidious is knocked back by Yoda in his office, the stunt double's hand is visible. Sidious's hands are old, wrinkly, and his nails are dark. But this hand is perfectly healthy and much larger.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) When Padme enters her royal Naboo starship bound for Mustafar, the Coruscant skyline is full of air traffic. Yet none of the traffic is reflected in the ship's shiny mirror-like body.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) Much of the computer-generated light sources do not cast light on the very real actors. For example, when General Grevious has a light saber in Obi-wan Kenobi's face, and then Chewbacca (near the end) is very close to Yoda's single-person spacecraft taking off with jets firing.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) General Grievous, whose two arms can split into four, has a total of twelve fingers (six on each hand when his arms aren't split). However in some shots (such as when he orders his ship's bridge crew to fire the emergency booster engines in an early scene) we can clearly see he has five on each hand when his arms aren't split. In other shots, he has the correct number of fingers.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) At the beginning of the movie when the two super battle droids are searching Anakin's fighter, the quick shot of them looking to R2-D2 is reversed as their red sensor is located on the opposite shoulder.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) In the duel between Mace Windu and Palpatine the camera shots are obviously alternating between those of Ian McDiarmid, playing Palpatine and those of the stuntman, who does not look much like the actor he is standing in for.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) When Anakin arrives on Mustafar and is shown putting on his hood, his mechanical arm is missing.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) When Palpatine battles Mace Windu and his fellow Jedi Council members, Palpatine's lightsaber handle changes to Anakin's handle. This is because the scene was originally shot with Palpatine using Anakin's blade.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) Audio/visual unsynchronised When Obi-Wan jumps onto the small, metal platform in the Mustafar river, you hear the hum of a lightsaber, even though it is not ignited. When he regains balance, he turns it on, and it sounds as if it was on the whole time.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) Audio/visual unsynchronised Before his demise on Mygeeto, during the execution of order 66, Ki-Adi-Mundi yells to his clone battalion, "Come on!" but his mouth doesn't move.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) Character error During the funeral procession near the end, a female spectator holding a candle nearly knocks off the headgear of a small girl standing in front of her.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) Character error Padme dies in childbirth. However, in Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi, after Luke and Leia realize they are siblings, Leia claims to remember her mother - in Return of the Jedi, Luke clearly asks Leia about her "mother, your real mother" - indicating she was not in fact talking about her adoptive mother. It is possible, however, that Leia did not know she had been adopted.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) Continuity When Darth Vader catches fire, he is right next to lava river, but in the next few shots, he is somehow far away from the lava, despite having not climbed the embankment since being burned.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) Continuity In the final sequence on Tatooine, when Obi Wan is handing the infant Luke to Beru, he opens his cloak to bring the baby out as he approaches her. This is first seen in a long shot from above. There is a cut to a two-shot, and he opens his cloak and extracts the baby again.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) Continuity After Anakin has choked Padme she falls to the ground and her right arm falls out in front of her but in the close-up, her arm is resting across her stomach.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) Continuity During the Jedi purge sequence, the cockpit of Plo Koon's Jedi Fighter does not match the exterior shot. (The cockpit is the Revenge of the Sith 'Eta-2' model, the exterior is a 'Delta-7' from Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones.)

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) Continuity When Darth Vader's mask is being lowered, there is no neck and chin guard in the long shot, yet after the point-of-view shot this portion of the mask appears already around Vader's neck.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) Continuity After the fight between Obi-Wan and Anakin, when Obi-Wan gets back into the spaceship, his clothes are completely clean, without any soot or ash or dirt on them. Later on, when he is talking with Yoda about the babies and going into exile, there are obvious dirt and burn marks on his clothing.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) Incorrectly regarded as goofs When Padme's body is shown in the funeral procession, it appears she is still pregnant. This was done by the Rebellion to trick the Sith into thinking that she had no surviving children.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) Incorrectly regarded as goofs Later in Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back Obi Wan disbelieves that "there is another", with the implication is that Yoda was speaking about Leia, about whom Obi-Wan should have known. In the context of "Empire", Obi-Wan had written off Leia as a prisoner of Darth Vader, whereas Yoda believed she would escape and continue the fight.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) Incorrectly regarded as goofs When Vader is incinerated after his fight with Obi-Wan, he loses his eyebrows. But in Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi, the unmasked Anakin had eyebrows. However, this problem was fixed in the 2004 DVD Release.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) Revealing mistakes During the funeral procession near the end, you can clearly see the cloth on one of the animals intersecting with its left leg at approximately 2:10:58.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) Revealing mistakes On the landing platform at the Jedi Temple, during the eradication of the Jedi, Bail Organa observes a young Jedi Padawan get shot by Clone Troopers. In Organa's escape, he jumps into his speeder with his left hand gripping the steering control. In doing this, he turns the control all the way to the left. Yet, his speeder moves forward in a straight line, ignoring the input.

crazy credits

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) The opening logo for 20th Century Fox is static (to match the opening of Episodes 4, 5 and 6), instead of the animated 3-D logo used in Fox films at the time.

Ewoks named after the Miwok, a Native American tribe, indigenous to the Redwood forest.

Millennium Falcon's design was inspired by a hamburger with an olive on the side.

R2D2 is an abbrievation for "Reel 2, Dialog Track 2."

Chewbacca's name is said to have been inspired by the Russian word ?????? (pronounced Sobaka), which means dog.

Han Solo is inspired from the real life Francis Ford Coppola

Voice of Yoda provided by Frank Oz.

Only characters to appear in all films are R2-D2 and C3P0

Jabba's dancing girl, Oola has a nip slip.

The cheapest set in Empire Strikes Back is the interior of the Space Slug aka Exogorth.

George Lucas was originally in line to direct the movie Apocalypse Now.

Han Solo was originally a green-skinned alien with gills.

Only George Lucas knew about the iconic line "Luke. I am your father!" The actors had a different script during filming.

The studio refused to greenlight Return of the Jedi until George Lucas drew out a detailed merchandising plan and promised more toy-friendly characters

Yoda was based on the Dali Lama.

Jake Lloyd, who played young Anakin, became addicted to cough syrup.

During the Mos Eisley shoot-out (just before the Falcon takes off), there is a brief musical cue from 70s arcade phenomenon Pac-Man.

The original Jabba the Hutt sequence from Episode IV was originally to feature a different version of Jabba: a large, grey intergalactic gangster with a giant cigar, four arms, and a whip for each hand. The scene was cut because the studio questioned the idea of a character smoking so much in a children's film.

Due to the limited budget the American cast members and crew (including George Lucas) all decided to fly coach class to England, rather than first class. When Carrie Fisher's mother Debbie Reynolds heard about this she called Lucas, complaining about how insulting it was for her daughter to be flying coach. Fisher was in the room with Lucas when he took the call, and after a few minutes asked if she could talk to her mother. When Lucas handed her the phone she simply said, "Mother, I want to fly coach, will you f**k off?!" and hung up.

John Dykstra and the FX team invented a great deal of technology including the now vastly used, motion-control camera to match motion of object to camera. Also used were traditional stop motion techniques, as well as rotoscoping (using mattes). In particular, if you have an old copy of the film on VHS, you can see the traveling mattes around the ships.

George Lucas has acknowledged influence of Akira Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress on Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.

You can see a wookiee/wookiees in all the films, except Attack of the Clones.

The Empire Strikes Back is the only Star Wars film to not include a visit to Tatooine.

George Lucas campaigned to get Frank Oz a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for Empire Strikes Back but was rejected as the Academy didn't consider a puppeteer an actor.

The original teaser was narrated by Orson Welles, who was the original choice to do the voice of Darth Vader.

James Earl Jones and David Prowse have never met.

Yoda is derived from the Sanskrit word for "warrior."

Laserswords or Lightsabers were originally thought to be more widely used, even by Stormtroopers.

The idea to give Darth Vader a breathing apparatus was artist Ralph McQuarrie's. The idea was that Vader would need it in order to travel from one space ship to another.

One of the drinks dispensers behind the bar in the Cantina was later recycled and used as the head of bounty hunter IG-88 in ESB.

Wampas were originally conceived as creatures which "swam" through the snow like sharks.

Mark Hamill voices the lines "The first transport is away... the first transport is away..." in the rebel base on Hoth.

General Grievous' cough was provided by George Lucas.

During production, great secrecy surrounded the fact that Darth Vader was Luke's father. Like the rest of the crew, Prowse–who spoke all of Vader's lines during filming was given a false page that contained dialogue with the revelatory line being "Obi-Wan killed your father."

George Lucas used a design from Jean Giraud, a french comic-artist for the Imperial Probe Droid in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back.

Yoda is the only main character to die of natural causes.

The word ''Jedi'' is derived from the Japanese words ''Jidai Geki'' which translate as ''period drama.'' A period drama is a Japanese TV soap opera program set in the samurai days.

Han grabs Leia's boob in ROTJ

Lucas based his now infamous "Order 66" by Emperor Palpatine on the history of Feb. 20, 1942, when President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 1066, interning the Japanese and Japanese Americans until the end of the war and the dropping of the Hiroshima Bomb.

There has been a star wars film released in 4 different decades.

In The Phantom Menace, Qui-Gon Jinn's communicator is a redecorated Sensor Excel Razor for Women.

While in production, ROTJ went by the title "Blue Harvest" to discourage spoiler interest in the film.

In Attack of the Clones there is a scene where Anakin and Obi-Wan enter the Outlander Club. If you pay good attention you see two familiar figures. One (on the left) is Anthony Daniels who has played C-3PO in all the movies. The other one is Ahmed Best (below the next post) who played Jar Jar Binks.

The sound effects for the Death Star's turbo-lasers were created by striking a telephone pole suspension wire with a heavy pole (try it yourself with a stick! It works) :P

After the first Death Star has been destroyed, at the end of 'A New Hope' and the rebel pilots touch down back at base, listen carefully as Luke climbs down from his X-Wing and rushes to embrace Leia - he is so excited he actually calls her 'Carrie'!

Stunt doubles were not used for the scene in which Luke and Leia swing to safety. Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill performed that stunt themselves, shooting it in just one take.

In "Star Wars ANH," Harrison and Luke Skywalker make their way into a detention center to rescue Princess Leia. When an Imperial officer demands via intercom to know what caused all the commotion, Harrison leans over and replies, "Uh . . . had a slight weapons malfunction. But, uh, everything's perfectly all right now. We're fine. We're all fine here, now, thank you. How are you? Boring Conversation anyway" Harrison made this up on the spot, deliberately not learning the scripted lines so as to sound spontaneous.

Return of the Jedi was originally titled "Revenge of the Jedi"

A total of 19 different planets are shown throughout the films.

George Lucas was the first filmmaker to ask for and sucessfully retain the merchandising rights to his characters...creating an empire of toys, t-shirts, and other movie memorabilia.

Harrison Ford asked that Han Solo die at the end of Empire during the carbon freezing process ... but his request was denied by George Lucas.

All twelve members of the Jedi Council are Jedi Masters, except for Ki-Ad-Mundi, who is a Jedi Knight.

The 'Wilhelm Scream' is heard in every Star Wars movie.

In the first draft of Star Wars, the main character was named Luke Starkiller.

I've got a bad feeling about this is spoken in every movie (or some variation)

On the long weekend, ROTS grossed 70.1 Million.

Original tagline read "A long, long time ago, in the not-too-dsistant future..."

Star Wars has made over 3.5 Billion dollars.

Hayden Christensen was the only actor portraying a Jedi who was not allowed to customize his character's lightsaber

One of the asteroids in Empire Strikes Back was a beet painted brown.

The weapons the stormtroopers used were essentially the Sterling L2A3 9mm SMG (sub-machine gun) a military weapon developed in the late 1940s in the UK and adopted by the British and Canadian Armies in the 1950s. The curved left entry side mounted magazine was removed. And that was as much as it was modified for the film. The longer sandtrooper weapon was the MG-34 machine gun from Germany.

Interested in creating a modest line of colorful space toys, Kenner Toys signed on for the merchandising shortly before Star Wars opened, although they did not believe the movie would be a hit. When Star Wars became a hit, they were unprepared to handle the demand and produce enough Star Wars toys to handle the demand for Christmas. Instead, they sold boxed vouchers for various toys. The toys sold in the "Empty Box" campaign during December were not delivered until the following March.

At one point, George Lucas planned for the characters of Luke Skywalker and his aunt and uncle, to be dwarves.

Most of the Stormtroopers are left-handed. That is because of how the weapons are constructed. Their weapons are based on a real weapon, where the magazine is on left side of the weapons. This construction caused it to hit the troopers in the chest. Therefore they have to switch grip of the weapon, which made them look left-handed.

According to Mark Hamill, studio executives were unhappy that Chewbacca has no clothes and attempted to have the costume redesigned with shorts.

The "TIE" in TIE Fighter is an acronym. It stands for "Twin Ion Engines".

Terri Nunn of the band Berlin was in the running for the role of Princess Leia and had readings with Harrison Ford and Mark Hamill.

20th Century Fox promoted the film at the San Diego Comic Con, believing the attendees of that event to be the film's main target demographic.